She's Getting Serious!

Fireworks Ahead!

2011-12-31T08:25:00.000-08:00

There are fireworks going off here tomorrow!!

I have been doing a lot of serious goal setting and planning the past week or so and I'll be back tomorrow to tell you all about it. I'll recap 2011 and let you in on my plans for next year. Stop back and check it all out. In the meantime.....

Have a very Happy New Years Eve!!!!

True Confessions

2011-12-20T03:39:00.000-08:00

It's been quite awhile since I've posted a True Confession. I just get busy and things start to get away from me. It doesn't mean that I don't have anything to say or that things are going badly.
What I have been thinking about lately is that perfection just isn't a reality in my life. I am never going to be perfect. No matter how hard I try, it is just not going to happen. But....I am okay with that.

I might be older and I may be overweight, but this body can do some amazing things. I can walk for miles. I can do a kettle bell workout with the younger girls in class and keep up just fine. I can zumba and look ridiculous and not even care.

I may never be a size 8 again. I am okay with that. It wouldn't make me a perfect person to be a size 8 again. Just like staying a size 14 won't make me a perfect person. It's okay to not be perfect. It really, truly is okay.

Here is my confession.....perfect is not for me. I will never be perfect. I won't aspire to be perfect. It's a goal that I won't reach no matter how hard I try. I am going to be happy to just be me. I will be the best me that I can be. I will continue to eat right and exercise often. I will be a good wife, mom, grammy and friend. I will help anyone who asks me to. I will laugh. I will cry. I will drink Bacardi and diet. I will enjoy the little things. And I won't be perfect and that is just fine with me.

This is my goal for the new year. I just want to be the best me I can be. I won't be perfect, but I could end up pretty awesome.

Some Sunday Night Inspiration

2011-11-13T17:19:00.001-08:00

True Confessions

2011-11-08T09:24:00.000-08:00

I am writing this at school on my lunch hour, so it's going to be short and sweet. I don't even have time to read the True Confessions post of the SJ website. Sorry Mel, I promise to read it after school.

Here's my confessions....
1. Ever since I got voted to Exile Island, I've been lacking. Lacking in so many things weight and fitness related. Right off the bat for the first time in the challenge I gained weight. Halloween came that same week and so did the Butterfingers.

2. I've been exercising less. I read what other people are doing in the challenge and I know that I don't have a chance in hell of doing anything big on the island. Does that me that I should just give up? Of course not, but you'd think I have with the little that I have done this week.

3. Have you ever heard of water? It sounds vaguely familiar. Could someone please refresh my memory? Somehow in the back of my mind, I think I remember it being something important.

4. Mr. Bacardi has been my friend too much this week.

5. Meal planning has gone right out the window and eating out has become too much of a weekly thing.

Do you get the picture? I know exactly what I need to do and I'm going to do it. Starting right here and right now. I'm dumping out the rest of the diet coke I have beside me and getting my water out of the fridge. You see....I bring the water to work. I just don't think of drinking it. I am stopping at the store on my way home and getting something healthy to make for dinner instead of going for the 2 meals for $20. at our favorite bar/restaurant that usually includes a few cocktails. I'm going to exercise class tonight and I really hope it's piyo.

Okay...that feels better already. I don't think there will any big losses tomorrow but check back next week. I may surprise you.

I Ran the Hood 2011 / Well, I Walked the Hood

2011-10-23T11:52:00.001-07:00

It was a sunny but chilly morning in northwest Indiana on Saturday. It was the perfect day to "Run the 'Hood" sponsored by the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans with some family and a friend. We started out a bigger group, but we got smaller as the day approached. My son-in-law ran early so he could watch the grand kids and my daughter could walk with us. Another daughter ended up having to work and a friend wound up sick and her husband wasn't walking without her. These misfortunes took us down to a team of five.....my husband, two daughters, a friend and me. It was all good.
We all started arriving a little before 10:00. That is Mari and Sarah making their way across the parking lot. We decided to walk at Coffee Creek Watershed Preserve. I thought the colors would be pretty this time of year. With the hurricane force winds we had earlier in the week, a lot of the color was gone, but some of it stayed around for us.

Some of us had to finish our breakfast. Abby is going to kill me for this picture.

Dick made fun of the fact that last week he was a Vickie's Chickie at the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk and now he was in the Sisterhood. Good thing the poor guy is secure in his masculinity.

Mari got things ready with her Run Keeper.

So off we went. It was starting to warm up a little and the views were lovely. There was still some color to see. I love the water feature in the pond and there are lots of little bridges

Mari and I took the lead with Dick, Sarah and Abby bringing up the rear. That didn't last terribly long. Mari is really a runner and she walks really fast. I kept taking pictures and getting further behind her. It was at the first water hazard that she left me in the dust.

This is the point in the story when it gets fun or should I say funny. Dick is now beginning to leave the girls and I in the dust. They are too nice to leave their mom and I keep slowing down to take pictures. I slowed down to take the picture below and tripped on a tree root and fell. All I could think about was "save the camera" and if you know me at all, you know that I love my Nikon D3000. I would never let anything happen to that camera. So good camera mommy that I am, I held the camera up and I fell. Much to my surprise, I popped right back up. Just a few scratches on my left calf and off we went. We tried to go around water hazard number 2, but it was wet all the way across. Now we had wet shoes and socks, but at least it had warmed up by then.

Before Dick left us, he said that anytime we came to a fork on the trail, we should go right. So...we came to our first fork on the trail and we turned right. Bad move! We started walking and went on for a bit and as we walked the path became less and less a path. More like matted down leaves. Abby is bringing up the rear saying that if we meet up with Bambi she is going to scream. Below is a picture of Sarah saying "Why did we listen to dad, this cannot be the right way!".

This is the part where we added an extra one mile to our walk. We turned around and headed back to the fork where we made the wrong choice. We finally get back there and we go left. We go over some more bridges and a few more water hazard's and we finally see the parking lot. Dick and Mari are waiting for us. Dick has water bottles for us and the girls tell him that he was so wrong. I tell him I fell and he says he's not surprised. I have done this before. Some of us are just fallers. Mari says she ran the last mile and a half and Dick says he's been back for about 15 minutes.

Here's my team when we finally were all reunited. Nobody was around so I could get a picture of all five of us. My time was 56:02. Not that bad when you consider we walked an extra mile. That was confirmed by my Fitbit that said I had walked 4.2 miles.

Nine weeks ago I said that I was going to run this race. I came to my senses a few weeks ago. I gave all the reasons I gave up the C25K program here. I was totally okay with walking this race today. I had some awesome one on one time with two of my daughters. Sarah is the one with the three grand kids and we almost never have a time to talk like that without the little darlings chiming in.

It was a perfect day, fall and all. If we have this race again next year, I'll be doing it and trying to recruit a bigger team. I hope you all had as much fun as I did.

p.s. I woke up this morning and went to stretch like I always do and OWWWW. My left hip and upper arm hurt. Guess I didn't quite bounce back like I thought. As I am typing this tonight, my hip doesn't hurt anymore and my arm is still sore. I'll be fine!

Shrinkvivor Week 4

2011-10-18T20:53:00.001-07:00

Week 4!?!? Holy cow, where is this challenge going? I love the Shrinkvivor challenge. It makes me stick to a plan and dig deep trying to not get voted off the island. So far, I haven't, but then there is always tribal council tomorrow.

This week I lost one pound. I kind of thought it would be more than that, but I'll take it. I had 402 exercise minutes this week and I did a pretty good job going green. The fact that every green pepper in my garden was ripe this week helped tremendously. I did make a major decision about how I exercise just in time for the Run the Hood 5k. You can read all about that over here.

If you have a chance to try a piyo class, do it! It is a most awesome class that gives you one heck of a workout. It mixes pilates and yoga and I thought it would be kind of flowing and easy. I was so wrong. It is flowing (if you do it right) but there is nothing easy about it. I love it though. I really do. Try it if you get a chance.

Team Vickie's Chickies!

Part of my exercise minutes this week came from the 5k I did on Sunday. It was the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk and I was a proud member of Vickie's Chickies. You can read my blog post about the walk here. That is Vickie front and center in the pink fleece. She is one of my very best friends and I do this walk for her and you. As of last night, I raised $1120.00 for Making Strides. I am very proud of that. I love Vickie and I would do anything for her.

Okay, that's what went on this week. See you all at tribal council. Good luck to us all!

Shrinkvivor Week 2

2011-10-05T13:55:00.000-07:00

Well, it's the first weigh in after the initial let's get started weigh in. I am thrilled to say that I lost 2.2 pounds. I worked hard for that loss and I'm proud of it.

I have been going to classes twice a week. We had boot camp on Thursday and Tuesday and it was brutal, but man I got a great workout. I am also doing workouts at home on different days. I logged 467 exercise minutes this week.

I'm still trying to do the C25K program. I have to admit that I won't be done by the 5k because I have repeated more than one week. I'm old and have a bad knee and a bad ankle. It is hard on my joints when I come pounding down on them with all my weight. But I keep doing it because I swore to myself that I would run the entire 5k. I don't know if that will happen or not now. It's hard and to be totally honest with you all, I do not like running. This is like the third or fourth time I've tried to run and I still hate it. I guess we just wait till October 22 and see what happens.

I've been pretty on track with my eating. I didn't have any fast food but that really isn't a challenge for me. I gave up fast food a year or so ago. I am lucky in the fact that if I try to eat it now, it literally makes me sick. I'm following an eating plan that my fitness coach set up for me and it's not too bad. I love Friday! That is my free day with no exercise and I get to eat anything I want.

Tribe Maroon become the Maroon Maniacs. I love my tribe. They are a great bunch of supportive ladies. Unfortunately, we lost one of our members before we even got started. She never weighed in for the first weigh in. I don't understand why people sign up for challenges if they have no intention of doing it. Makes no sense to me at all.

Hope everyone had a great week. I have no idea what will happen tomorrow. If I'm the first to go to Exile Island, so be it. I'd like to spend a little time here though. We'll see what happens. Good luck everyone.

Shrinkvivor Week One

2011-09-28T13:48:00.001-07:00

Can you believe it? The start of the new Shrinkvivor challenge is finally here. I am excited about this challenge. I am so ready for this. I truly truly believe that this is going to be my best challenge ever.

I am a member of Tribe Maroon and from what I can tell so far, we are going to be a great group. We are all over the country and run the gamut of ages. I think it's going to be fun with these ladies.

I have a plan for this challenge. I have goals written. I have planned the times for exercise in my week. Even though I haven't been blogging about it, I have been meal planning. If it kills me, I will start getting enough sleep. My fitness instructor, who is now also my fitness coach is insisting that I get at least seven hours of sleep a night. She also insists that I take two days a week off. She introduced me to Piyo last night and it was an awesome class. I love her.

This weeks physical challenge is to get up and get moving. We are logging our exercise hours. I am all over this. Now that my exercise is planned into my day, this is going to be great.

I am really looking forward to seeing what I can do during this challenge. I have a plan and I have determination. I have a great tribe behind me. I think it's going to be all good.

Loving My Insides

2011-09-16T17:48:00.000-07:00

My friend Lisa wrote a post on the Shrinking Jeans site that had an assignment in it. She has asked us to write a post about three things that we love about our insides. To quote Lisa..."I want each of us to focus on the innards of our bodies, the things we love about our insides-our personalities, our mental fortitude, or the like". You'll understand that more when you read my three things.

The first thing I love about my insides is my heart. I have a big heart. I will pretty much do anything for anybody at any time. Sometimes even to a fault. I love to have a cause. Right now I am starting to gear up for my fundraising for the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk.

The next thing I love is that I have finally given myself the power to really take the bull by the horns and really work on this weight loss and fitness journey. I have doing it for several years now and just haven't made any great progress. I finally feel like I am in the right frame of mind and I am going to do this. My fitness instructor is now also my fitness coach. We sat down last night and put pen to paper and laid out a real plan. I truly believe I can stick to this plan and Nikki is there to help me stay on track. Watch out folks because you might just be reading the blog of the next Shrinkvivor champion.

Lastly, I love that I don't back down from a challenge. The easiest way to get me to do something is tell that I can't do it. The personification of this was last years Exposed post. The truest proof that a challenge doesn't scare me. Although I'm a little like the scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz when it comes to water. Water scares me. Especially deep water. There are no triathalons in my future. I can promise you that.

Those are three things that I love about my insides. I actually can think of a couple more, but Lisa only asked for three. Thanks Lisa. I enjoyed this.

Personal Goals with Help

2011-09-11T18:45:00.000-07:00

It's been over a week since I have been here. It's hard getting back in the the swing of going to work and getting all the other things done as well. Once I get it all worked out, I really do get more done. It's just getting back in the swing of it that takes a little time.

I had an awesome conversation on Facebook tonight with my fitness instructor. She has offered to be my personal coach. Not my personal trainer, I can't afford that. Here is what she is proposing....

1. Weekly check-ins, not weigh ins though. I do those at Shrinking Jeans.
2. Help me monitor my progress
3. Talk about any set backs and how to over come them
4. Help me move forward towards reaching my goals
5. Help me write out training plans

I'm going to try it. I feel bad because she doesn't want anything to do this. She said it's not about money for her. It is about helping people reach their goals and she totally means it. She is that awesome a person.

I'm moving along with the C25K program. I just finished week 3 today. I keep waiting for it to get a little easier, but so far that hasn't happened yet. That's okay though because I am not quitting. I will run the whole Run the Hood 5k if it kills me.

Although I haven't blogged about it, I have been doing meal planning. I did it last week and I planned this weeks meals today. It certainly makes it easier now that I am back at work.

Has anyone else watched the new Ali Vincent show on the Live Well network? It just started last week. I really liked it. I met her last winter. I just wish I would have been writing for Shrinking Jeans then so I might have been able to interview her. I did get to meet her and get my picture taken with her though. Here's the link to that post from last November. She was awesome and so inspirational. I wish I had her talk on tape to listen to it again.

One last thing...it's only 40 days till the Run the Hood 5k. But there is only 10 more days to sign up to run or walk it. Have you signed up yet? Here's the link. Don't be left out. It's going to be so much fun. T shirts, finisher medals and swag bags. What else can you ask for? Go sign up!

That's it for now. Hope everyone has a great week!

Burst into Summer Finale

2011-08-31T03:44:00.000-07:00

It's here my friends. The finale of the Burst into Summer challenge. If you read last weeks post, you know that I have been on quite a journey during this challenge.

I lost 1.1 pounds last week. That puts me at a total loss for the challenge of 8.6 pounds. It's not the 15 pounds I had hoped for, but I'll take it. I'm not going to make excuses for not reaching my goal. If you have been checking in here, you know all about it.

I did my best to finish strong. I did all the things I had set as my goals for the challenge. I drank my water, I exercised, I ate right, I took my vitamins. All the good stuff and it seems to have worked.

Yesterday I did Week 2 Day 1 of the C25K program. It's still hard, but I'm okay with that. I am hoping that it does get easier at some point though. I can be patient. I just hope by October 22 and the Run the Hood 5k, I can run the whole race. That is my new goal.

I want to thank my team members of Team 4. We lost one member along the way, but we did a pretty good job. We have been in second place for the last few weeks and each week we kept getting closer to first place. If we pull out a win in this last week, it would be awesome. If we don't, I'll still be proud of us. We have always been in at least the Top 10. We did good.

So now I wait until tomorrow for the leader board. The numbers between 1st and 2nd were really close last week. Team 4 has a shot at pulling this out. Here's hoping!

Burst into Summer / Week 10

2011-08-23T19:44:00.001-07:00

Burst into Summer challenge yes, but this post is so not about the challenge. It is so not about the challenge that I am writing it on Tuesday night. I'll pop in the loss or gain in the morning. This post is more about me and how I feel lately. About what I'm learning about myself and where I'm going with this knowledge.

It's no secret that I have had a very lax summer. Exercise has been almost nonexistent. I blamed it on the heat and not having air conditioning. I did lose some weight. I think that was because of the heat too. It certainly wasn't because I was feverishly working out! I kept telling myself that I would get back to working out, but it just wasn't happening. Fact of the matter is I had gotten lazy.

My first little lightening bolt hit awhile back when I found out about the virtual 5k going big time. This is the first year that I am a writer for Shrinking Jeans and I thought I should maybe put my all into this race and think about running the whole thing. But wow, the thought of hauling this jumbo size backside out for a 3.1 mile run was a little daunting. So I kind of put that idea on the back burner.

Bolt #2 came last week when the 5k was announced at the Sisterhood. People were excited and talking about doing the Couch to 5k program. I started to think about doing it too and even started telling people that maybe I would do this. The problem was, I wasn't convinced that I could do it. I've walked two half marathons and more 5k's than I can count. But...I have never run an entire race from start to finish. I've walked / jogged a few, but never ran a whole race.

The third and final bolt came on Monday. It was the Back to School Ice Cream Social. I spent at least 30 minutes in my bedroom rummaging through my closet and trying on clothes. I'm pretty sure I hadn't worn a dress all summer. Imagine my surprise when I realized that every dress and skirt I had looked like total crap on me. At best I looked five months pregnant. I sat down and cried. How in the hell did I let this happen again? How could I let all the work I did last winter be for nothing? I pulled myself together and I put on the best of the worst dresses ever and went to school.

I came home and made myself a tall old faithful (Bacardi and diet). I sat down with that and a paper and pen. I started making a list of pros and cons to doing the c25k program. When I got done, I had way more cons than pros. What that did was make me mad because cons are nothing more than excuses. I decided right then and there that I am done with excuses. Look where excuses got me! At that point, I kept list making, but it was a very different kind of list. I formulated a plan of attack, so to speak.

Tuesday morning I got up and did Week 1 Day 1 of the C25K program. I downloaded the app on my phone and off I went. Let me tell you it was hard. I never knew that 60 seconds could seem like an hour, but it can. I didn't let that fact stop me though. I huffed and I puffed and I blew day one down. Tuesday night I did the tworkout. We did a new exercise called a jump squat and that would have liked to kill me too, but I didn't let it. It hurt, but I kept on going.

Tuesday night, I was also on Facebook chatting with my instructor from boot camp. She was telling me about the new classes that were going to be starting back up the day after Labor Day. It's only going to be two nights a week, but I'm excited. She said she has many classes that she is going to rotate through and we won't know what we are doing until we get there. She said there will be zumba, pi-yo, boot camp and kick boxing to name a few. She also encouraged me to do the c25k. She even offered to run with me at my pace. I would never do that to her. This lady runs marathons and does tri's for heavens sake. It was very sweet of her to offer though.

I know you are just dying for this post to be over and for me to tell you what I learned. Well...here it is! As I was attempting to run those 60 second intervals , I kept thinking "what would happen if I just stopped and didn't do it?" That's when it hit me. It would be like every other time I said I was going to take care of this weight and fitness stuff and fizzled out. I'd be a quitter and damn it, I'm done being a quitter.

You are probably just as sick of hearing me say I was going to do this as I am. But I swear to you all right now, I am going to do this. If I get on here and whine about how hard it is, feel free to reach through that monitor and smack the crap out me. I will totally deserve it. I'm guessing that another Exposed Movement will be coming again in October. I would really like to look better than I did in the last picture.

So yeah, that's my post. I'll pop in my loss or gain in the morning and post this beauty. In the meantime, I have to get to bed. School starts in the morning and I have to be up in six and a half hours. And God help me, I don't have a clue what I am wearing.

One last thing...don't you want to Run the Hood with me? You can you know. Just click on the link and sign up. It's going to be fun with t shirts and medals. Go ahead. Join the fun.

http://runthehood.eventbrite.com/

P.S. It's Wednesday morning and I am down .6 pounds!

Burst into Summer / Week 9

2011-08-17T14:45:00.001-07:00

Week 9! Can you believe that? This challenge has been flying by. I did all my bitchin and moanin over here yesterday. Feel free to go check it out. I'm in no hurry. Okay, you're back. Today is all about good things. Here goes....

I lost 1.1 pounds last week. That puts my challenge loss so far at 6.9 pounds. Not on par with what I wanted to lose for this challenge, but we aren't done yet. There is always time to really turn it on these last weeks. And when you hear the next paragraph, you'll see why I said that.

The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans of which I am a proud contributing writer is going to have their third annual virtual 5k. But this year is different. Our virtual 5k is a 5k or 10k. We have t shirts and finisher medals. You and all your friends and family can join us. It is October 22 and you can go here to learn all about it. You can also click on the widget in the sidebar.

In honor of this most awesome race, I am going to start the C25K program so that I can run the whole race this year. I have run/walked the last two years. This time I am going to run the whole thing if it kills me. Two of the other girls from Shrinking Jeans are going to do this with me. It is much harder to back out when you have other people counting on you to do it with you.

I'm off to recruit a team to run with me in October. How about you? Are you running or walking with us? I hope you do. It is going to be amazing. I promise!

Burst into Summer / Week 8

2011-08-10T15:11:00.000-07:00

Week 8! Does that really say week 8?!?! This challenge is flying by which also means summer is flying by too. Next week is my staff meeting and then school starts the week after that. I can't believe that summer break is almost over. It just seems like the older I get, the faster time goes. Kind of scary!

We were on vacation last week. We rented a house and a pontoon boat on Diamond Lake in Cassopolis, Michigan. We went with our kids and grand kids and my sister and brother-in-law and their kids and grand kids. We should have had a bigger house. Most of the week was fun, but I did have a few tense moments when it just got a little too close. Too many attitudes and opinions and helpers and non helpers in one house. At our max point, there were 21 of us in a three bedroom house.

This was my view from the dock. It really was pretty out there. I spent a lot of time there and some of that time I spent drinking tall glasses of Bacardi and diet with lime. I spent time by the nightly fires drinking the same thing. Hey, you handle stress your way and I handle it mine.

So here's the kicker...I was pretty good about my eating. Remember that I went with my sister who is a skinny freak. I even did really well with the mini challenge. The only ice cream I had all week was when I shared a dilly bar with Jack. My part consisted of licking the ice cream when it started to drip.

The bottom line is that I am down a half pound. I LOST a half of a pound!! Not a great loss, but it's not a gain which was what I was expecting. So how about you? Did you have a good week? Did you gain or lose? Did you drink more than you should have like me or were you good?

Burst into Summer / Week 7

2011-08-03T06:00:00.000-07:00

I'm just stopping in for a quick post. I have some good news, but I also have a vacation to get back to. We rented a house at Diamond Lake in Michigan with my sister and brother-in-law. Our kids are filtering in and out during the week. By the end of the week, we should have about 20 of us there. It will be crowded, but very fun. This is the view from our front porch.

The good news is that I lost 1.1 pounds this week. With that loss I make it into a new decade of weight. We've only been on vacation for two days, so I really haven't had a chance to mess up too badly. My plan is to not screw up at all.

The new mini challenge was to get three servings of dairy a day. I did a pretty good job with that. I really like Chobani Greek yogurt and have it pretty much every morning. I also like the Weight Watchers string cheese. Between the two, I hit my mark of three servings.

Okay, I need to get back to vacation. I just came home to pick up my daughter who was in California for a conference. Enjoy the rest of your week and wish me luck being good on our trip.

Burst into Summer / Week 6

2011-07-27T10:29:00.000-07:00

I find it hard to believe that we are in week 6 of this challenge and in the last week of boot camp. The time is going by way to fast this summer. The heat and humidity here in northwest Indiana has been stifling. I'm sorry to say that has made a huge impact on my exercising or should I say lack of exercising.

I did lose .8 pounds this week. Once again I think it was sweat induced. My exercise consisted of anything I could do in the pool. I did spend some time in there this past week. That is kind of unheard of for me. I don't usually go in the pool. Me in a bathing suit is not a very pretty picture, but with this heat I really didn't care who saw me and it was just family. Still it was a huge leap for me to put it on and go out there.

I was kind of a fail on the challenge this week. I did get a couple days with no diet coke, but I had more days with it. I had my grand kids for 36 straight hours. They are 1, 3 and 5 years old and that in itself required the caffeine in diet coke. I also had a couple Bacardi and diets, so yes I was a big fail on this challenge. I promise to do better on this next dairy one.

I had the grand kids because my son-in-law and daughter went to Madison, Wisconsin. My son-in-law competed in the Tough Mudder race with his brother. He trained like a crazy person and my gosh did he ever bulk up. He has some awesome muscle definition. They did a great job and finished in a time of 2 hours and 10 minutes. The average time is 2 hours and 30 minutes. I could not believe the things he told me about this race. You run through some of the craziest obstacles on a 10 mile course. By crazy I don't just mean your average obstacles. This race has fire and electrical shock plus having to swim under water. It's nuts! He is very happy and proud though and I'm proud of him too. Here he is after the race.

Daddy explained to the girls why mommy and daddy were going to be gone for so long. They seemed to be okay with it. But...those little minds are always thinking. They came up with the idea to have an obstacle race of their own but not with mud. Aunt Abby and I started thinking and the Princess Race was born. It was the cutest darn thing ever and they had a ball. The picture below is of Natalie running like the wind to the finish line. She was so happy and excited. You can see Lizzy's ear and feet coming up behind her. I couldn't find a good action shot of the two of them together. I have video on my phone, but I didn't think you'd care to watch that. We had obstacles like running through ladder rungs, climbing through inner tubes, running up and down ramps, climbing up and jumping off platforms and doing a lap around the course in their jeep. There was more, but you get the idea. They both got gold medals at the end along with a basket of princess goodies. It is a memory that will stay with me forever.

So those last two things had absolutely nothing to do with check in except for the calories I expelled in those 36 hours. Jack is 15 months old and thinks he's Superman. He constantly climbs up on things and jumps off. You can't take your eyes off that boy. But of my gosh is he cute. I should have posted the picture of him going through the ladder. He was not about to be outdone by his sisters.

We are going on vacation next week. We rented a lake house and pontoon boat with my sister and brother-in-law. Our kids will be coming and going throughout the week. It will be fun. We haven't vacationed together since the kids were all little and we rented lake houses then. I'm not worried about eating badly on this trip because this my sister who is obsessed about weight and talks about it all the time. You just don't overeat around her. It's not worth it to have to hear about it. Takes all the fun out of it. I should probably come back with a loss for next week. The only bad thing I see happening is having to have a few cocktails to conger up the courage to go on the boat. I can't swim and hate deep water, so it always takes a little liqiud courage for me.

Last but surely not least, check back in a day or two for my recap post about doing the mini summer breakfast swap with Mel and Attune Foods. We should have had the dairy challenge last week when I was eating cereal every morning!

Okay I am shutting up now before this becomes a freakin novel. Hope you all had a good week. Go Team 4!! Hope we stay in the Top 10 or make that Top 5.

Mini Summer Breakfast Swap Recap

2011-07-26T23:15:00.000-07:00

You might remember that I decided to become a part of the mini Summer Breakfast Swap with Mel. The idea was that I would eat Uncle Sam's cereal for breakfast for one week and that was just what I did. Now I am supposed to do a recap for you about what I thought.

After a little hunting, I found the cereal. I was ready to start the challenge. Next came the part that kind of threw me for a loop. They wanted me to just eat the cereal in milk every morning. I do not drink milk. I do not like milk. What in the world did I just get myself into? I just assumed that I would be able to mix it in my yogurt or make some of the yummy looking breakfast bars that are on the Attune Foods website. Nope, eat it in milk. Okey dokey!

I started the week with a bowl of Uncle Sam's and milk. I am not ashamed to say that I was not very impressed. It had very little flavor. But then I remembered what Annelies from Attune Foods had told me. She said that if I got the Uncle Sam Original, it is less than 1g sugar for a reason, so if I liked my cereal a bit sweeter, I might want to think about adding fresh fruit or a drizzle of honey to the bowl. So that is just what I did. I played with it and tweeked it a little every day until I came up with the bowl you see below. It is Uncle Sam, almond soy milk, blueberries and a drizzle of honey. It is pretty much everything she told me to try, but I could eat this without a problem.

I lost a pound the week of the challenge. I don't know if I can attribute it to eating the cereal or not, but it certainly couldn't have hurt. I found out that a bowl of cereal and fruit can stay with me all morning without feeling hungry before lunch. That was something I wouldn't have thought before the challenge. The thing that I am looking forward to now is making the breakfast granola bars from the Attune Foods website. They really do look yummy.

I want to thank Mel for asking me to join her on this challenge. I am anxious to read her recap at the end of her challenge. She is doing this for the summer. I also want to thank Annelies from Attune Foods. She was very helpful with getting me started on this little journey. I am happy to say that I can see myself eating cereal for breakfast again. I never would have tried if it wasn't for this challenge.

Burst into Summer / Week 5

2011-07-20T13:13:00.000-07:00

Our thermometer in the sun says 112 and the one in the shade says 98. Let's just split the difference and say that it is 105 here this afternoon. It's the kind of hot that makes it hurt to take a deep breath. Not to mention the fact that it is freakishly humid and we have no AC. It has been like this for close to a week with no end in sight. Because of this little fact, I was expecting to not have a very good weigh in.

I have exercised very little this week. With the exception of the tworkout last night, the only exercise I remember doing was in the pool. My eating hasn't been that great. It's just too hot to eat. It makes me feel sick to eat. Except of course when I wake up at 3:25 in the morning and am so hot, I feel the need to eat a bowl of ice cream to cool me down. You can read my True Confession from yesterday if you'd like the whole story.

Because of all of the above, I wasn't expecting much in the weigh in department today. I got up this morning and I kept putting off going in to weigh myself. Had I only known what was going to happen, I would have bolted in there first thing. I am down 1.1 pounds. That is a full pound more than last week. I think I can probably thank sweat for that loss. That is pretty much all I do these days. Whatever the reason, I am happy.

I didn't do a very good job with the mini challenge this week. We can blame that on the heat too. Even though I have tried, sleeping when it is this hot doesn't happen very easily. I am pretty sure the mini challenge for next week could kill me. NO DIET COKE!!! The main reason being I have the grand kids from Saturday morning till Sunday night and doing that without caffeine could be a really bad thing. I'm not making any promises.

Last but not least, I am doing the Attune Foods/Uncle Sam cereal mini Summer Breakfast Swap with Mel this week. You can read all about it here. I think there is still time if you'd like to join in too

That's it for now. Try to keep cool and we'll see how it goes for next week.

Mini Summer Breakfast Swap

2011-07-18T09:41:00.000-07:00

I'm usually the girl that is up for a challenge.

Mel offered this Uncle Sam cereal mini challenge and I said count me in.

Mel from Mel Gets Fit is doing a Summer Breakfast Swap with Attune Foods and Uncle Sam cereal. It is an eight week challenge that you can read about on her blog. She offered a mini challenge of a one week challenge with Attune Foods/Uncle Sam cereal to her readers. I said okay. I can do this.

Here is how it is going to work. Attune Foods sent me a PDF coupon for a free box of Uncle Sam cereal. I went and got the box of cereal. For the next week, I am going to eat Uncle Sam cereal for breakfast every day and tell you about it at the end of this week.

I was a little leery of this challenge after I found out that I was supposed to eat the cereal with milk. I am not a milk girl. When I joined the challenge, I had planned to eat it mixed in my yogurt or just dry, kind of snack style while I got myself ready in the morning. My new friend Annelies at Attune Foods said she would appreciate it if I ate the cereal with milk. That was how all the rest of the girls were doing the challenge. She suggested I drizzle a little honey on the cereal or get flavored soy milk.

I started the challenge yesterday morning. For the past two mornings, I have drizzled honey on my cereal and it is really good. I am not putting tons of milk in my bowl, but there is milk in there. There's enough that I get some in each bite of cereal. I plan to get some vanilla soy milk to try too.

What has surprised me in the last two days is how full and satisfied I feel during the rest of the morning after my breakfast. Both days I had a bowl of cereal and a Greek yogurt and have been perfectly happy until lunch. I wasn't expecting that.

If you would like to join in this challenge, it's not too late. Just head over to Mel's and tell her you'd like to join. She explains it all in a post on her blog.

I will check back with you at the end of the week to let you know how the rest of the week went. If the first two days are any indication of things to come, I'm expecting good things.

Burst into Summer / Week 4

2011-07-13T12:50:00.000-07:00

It's Wednesday! That means it's time to head over to the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans and post our stats for the week. I was amazed and thrilled when I got on the scale this morning. I am down .1 pounds. You are probably laughing now thinking I have lost it if I am happy about a loss of .1 pounds, but I am pretty darn happy.

Let me tell you about my week. I did okay on Wednesday and Thursday. Then came Friday, Saturday and Sunday and the Valadez family reunion. I am not a Valadez by blood, but you couldn't ask to be lucky enough to be welcomed into this family as an outsider. This is the family of one of my cery best friends. If you read my True Confession yesterday, you know what went on at this reunion. If not, go ahead and read it...I'll wait. So you see why I was surprised when I got on the scale today. I was sure I was going to have a big gain.

The mini challenge this week was no fast food. That was a piece of cake(not really) for me. I haven't eaten fast food in years. It literally makes me sick if I eat it now. I kept the fruit basket out on the counter again this week. Somehow, it didn't empty as fast as last week. My water intake was a little off. I was taking in other liquid for those three infamous days.

I am doing well with eating breakfast every morning. Speaking of breakfast, I am joining Mel in the Mini Summer Breakfast Swap with Uncle Sam cereal and Attune Foods. It took me some time to find the cereal. I had to go to three towns and five stores, but I finally found it this morning. I'll be starting the challenge on Monday. I'll be eating this cereal instead of my usual breakfast food. Attune Foods gave me a coupon to get the cereal free. You can join in too if you'd like. Just click on the breakfast swap link and Mel will tell you all about it.

In my post yesterday, I talked about thinking I am done with going to boot camp class at the gym. It makes me sad, but I think it might be the right thing to do for me. I'm hoping to keep going to zumba, but nobody showed up last night. I'm just going to keep doing the SJ boot camp and I have the wii zumba disc. I've been walking in the morning too. I think it will be fine.

So that's my week. How did you do? I plan on doing better next week. I think a big loss is in my future. I maintained last week and lost that big .1 pounds this week. I think I owe Team 4 some pounds.

Last but certainly not least, I was so inspired by this post by our very own Lisa. Check it out. She is a freakin rock star.

A friend posted this quote on her Facebook page this morning. For many reasons it just kind of spoke to me. I just thought I'd share it with you.

Burst into Summer / Week 3

2011-07-06T06:04:00.001-07:00

This my friends is one of those weeks where I don't have much to say. How can there be a lot to talk about when I weigh the same as I did last week? I guess in the grand scheme of things that is better than a gain. It was a holiday weekend and we did have lots of parties and cookouts to attend.

After last weeks comments, I did finally measure. I'm going to wait a few weeks before I measure again though. Hopefully, I will see a better loss of inches that way and it will be a big shot in the arm. Four weeks from right now, I'll be on vacation at a lake and I'd like to wear beach clothes. If I lose some inches and firm up a little, I could do that.

The pool has finally warmed up and I am going to start jogging in there today. I found out at the end of last summer that I actually liked that. I hate to run on pavement. The boot camp runs and bursts...I hate them. They hurt my knees and my ankle. But for some reason, in the pool they are okay. So, to the pool it is. Here's hoping it will work again this year for me.

I did pretty well with the eating this past week. Even with all the parties and cookouts, I stayed within my calorie goals. I didn't even have a cocktail till the 4th. Of course then I made up for it and had too many. I had a great time in my own backyard with friends and family, so I'm not going to beat myself up over it. I'm back on the wagon now.

I did a pretty good job with the fruits and veggies. I put a basket of fruit all washed and ready to eat on the kitchen counter and it helped a whole bunch. The whole family ate more fruit last week because of it. I'm going to keep doing that. Does sun tea count as water? I've been making that and downing a lot of it. My water intake has suffered because of it.

There are no classes at my gym this week. I'm on my own. Wish me luck. Hopefully, the water jogging will help and I have the SJ boot camp. I keep thinking I want to get a bike again. I let my husband talk me into selling mine at a garage sale last year. I knew at the time it was a bad idea, but I let him talk me into it anyway. I was looking at them last week and they aren't all that expensive. I have an extra paycheck this month because of the five Fridays, so I may just bite the bullet and get one.

Well, for someone who didn't have much to say, I guess I said a lot. How did you all do this week? Team 4 moved up to 6th place last week. Hope my lack of loss didn't send us back down the leaderboard.

Hey...one last thing. Check out my post at Bacardi Mama. I went to the Cubs game last week and it was awesome. Holy Cow!!!

Burst Into Summer / Week 2

2011-06-29T06:49:00.000-07:00

I feel like a little kid right now. I want to jump up and down and yell and cry and say "It's not fair, it's not fair!!". Who the heck said that I could work my ass off and only lose .06 pounds??? IT'S NOT FAIR!!

Do you hear me weight loss gods? It is not fair!! Get my drift? I am not a happy camper.

I have worked really hard this week. I have been doing the two boot camps. When I worked too hard I cut back a little, but I was still working damn hard. Those sprints would liked to have killed me, but they didn't. Intervals at my other boot camp tried to do me in too, but I wouldn't let them. And this the thanks I get?!?! Yes, I missed zumba, but when I did I worked out at home. It wasn't like I totally slacked off. I missed for good reasons. I just didn't choose to not go.

I confessed yesterday to eating cupcakes, but that could not have been my downfall. It wasn't like I ate a dozen cupcakes and ate them everyday. It was two stinkin cupcakes on one particular day. Big freakin deal!!!

I aced the mini challenge this week. I didn't miss breakfast once. I kept up with last weeks challenge too. Water, water, water. I'm thinking that next weeks challenge should be pretty easy. I've put a basket of fruit on the kitchen counter, so remembering to eat it is much easier. I also keep peppers in the fridge all washed and ready to go.

But -.06?!?! This is the kind of crap that makes me want to go to the Cubs game today and eat all the ballpark food and have cocktails till I'm buzzed. It makes me crazy. But, everyone has bad weeks when they are trying hard, so I guess this just my turn.

Sorry it wasn't more Team 4. I really did try. I promise not to go crazy at the ballpark. I get to go to the Cubby Bear before the game, so I know I'll have a drink or two there. We are meeting friends who live close by and I've never been there before. I may never get there again, so yes, I'll be drinking. I'll be good with the ballpark food. Nothing too awful. But I am going to have fun. It's a Cubs game for heavens sake. And I'll drive people crazy with my camera, but that's okay too.

I think I may be feeling a little better now, but when I started this post.......

I felt like Lizzy looks

a caged animal who was really pissed off!!

Burst into Summer / Week 1

2011-06-22T04:56:00.001-07:00

It's the first weigh in of the new challenge and I am one happy camper. I lost 1.6 pounds. I worked hard for that loss and I'm proud of it.

After doing two boot camps in one day on Monday along with a three mile walk, I decided that my Shrinking Jeans boot camp days will be Tuesday/Thursday/Friday. By the end of my evening boot camp on Monday, I could have cried, passed out or puked. I probably could have done all three. I'm not doing that again. I'm doing zumba too. I missed last night though because of storms. I'll be there on Thursday. I did a yoga tape here at home instead. I realized too late that it was Tuesday and I could have done the tworkout. That ticked me off.

I haven't missed a day logging my food and exercise on My Fitness Pal. I even became MFP friends with Brooke and Ann this week. I've been doing well with my water too. I'm trying really hard to not drink diet coke unless I am mixing it with Bacardi and I'm not doing much of that either. I started making sun tea. I get that caffeine hit without all the crap that's in diet coke.

I realized after rereading my post from last week that I never took my measurements. I have the tape right here and I'll be doing that after I finish this post. I really want to know when this is all done what I lost in pounds and inches. I'm hoping it's a lot.

I'm going to really have to watch myself this weekend. We have parties on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The good food and liquor will be flowing at all three. The hardest one will be Sunday. I can resist. I can resist. I CAN RESIST!! I just have to keep telling myself that.

I'm anxious to see how Team 4 does today. I know Mel did great. I'd love to win this challenge. It is a great feeling. My team won the Down and Dirty in 30 challenge and it was awesome.

Okay, so that's my story for this week. I'll see you back here in one week and hopefully, I'll have a nice loss to report. Hope you all are having a good weigh in too.

Friend Makin Monday (Tuesday)

2011-06-21T11:49:00.000-07:00

I just saw this on Mel's blog and liked it. I decided it might be fun. Here's how you play.

Take a minute to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section over at alltheweigh.com so everyone can see your FMM questions and answers. Please add your links here too so I can be sure to check out your answers. The idea is to connect with other bloggers. Now it’s time for this week’s questions!

FMM: Yes or No?

Do you use coupons? Yes

Do you like football? Yes, but just Notre Dame college football!!
Are you in a relationship? Yes. I've been married for 37 years
Is your phone always within arm’s reach? Yes
Do you like thunderstorms? Yes

Can you cook? Yes
Are you – or have you – lost weight? Yes, but still working on it.
Do you know how to read a map? Yes, but there are people who say I can't.
Do you wear makeup? Yes, almost always. I don't like to scare people.
Do you read regularly? Yes.

Are you publicly affectionate? Yes. A kiss, a hug, a hand hold, but nothing more than that.
Do you like picnics? Yes, but I haven't been on one in a long time.

Do you have a/c? No unfortunately. We live in a 1930's house that has hot water heat, so no duct work for ac..
Have you ever been out of the country? No.
Do you know how to ride a bicycle? Yes, I love it.

Okay, now it's your turn and don't forget to link up.

Burst into Spring / The Beginning

2011-06-15T07:02:00.000-07:00

It's time for the longest Sisterhood challenge ever. 11 weeks of exercise bursts and weekly challenges. A boot camp for everyone to follow online. I can't tell you how excited I am about this challenge. I need it very badly because I have screwed up very badly. I didn't really realize how bad until this morning.

I bought a new scale. I haven't decided if that was good or bad. I weighed myself for the first time on it this morning and I was horrified. According to this scale, I weigh what I did back in January. Holy crap!! That means that I have gained a big chunk of weight or I weighed a bunch more than I thought when I got serious about this in January. Whatever it means,

IT STOPS NOW!!!

I know that I have told you before that the last six weeks of school kicked my butt. I was busy beyond words and exercise took a total backseat to everything else. I didn't think my eating was that bad, but I guess it was. There were days when I hardly ate at all and that is just as bad as eating all the wrong things. Add those three things together and you get my weight this morning on the new scale.

BUT, I HAVE A PLAN!

It starts right now. Some of it actually started on Monday. Here's how it goes.....

1. I'm back to My Fitness Pal. Obviously I do much better when I am logging my food intake and exercise.

2. I am back at boot camp and zumba. I've gone the last two nights and I'm going tonight and tomorrow. Four nights a week and no less.

3. I am back to walking. I bought a new pedometer and it is the first thing I do in the morning. No time to find excuses not to do it. I started with three miles which is what I was doing last summer. It was a little hard the first three mornings, but I know it will get easier and maybe I'll even be able to add to that as the summer goes on.

4. Water! Water, water water. I think I have forgotten what that even tasted like. No more. I have my 64 ounce jug filled and my goal is to drink that and more through the course of the day. That just happens to be the mini challenge this week.

5. I will take my vitamins and quit letting them sit in the basket in the kitchen. A few months ago, I never missed taking them.

Yeah, that's the plan. I think, no, I know I can do this. I have done it before and I just let too many things get in my way the last six weeks. I have a vacation the first week in August that happens to include our renting a house on a lake for a week with some family members. I'd like to be able to wear a bathing suit while I'm there. I sure wouldn't do it if we left today.

I'm taking my measurements this morning (gasp) and I may even get brave and take some pictures. A little inspiration (or fear) never hurt anyone. This challenge is mine to do with as I please. It would please me to no end to lose at least 15 pounds. I think that being off work for the summer might just give me that pleasure.

I am proud to be a member of Team 4 for this challenge. We really need to get a real name. I only know one of the ladies on the team, but I love to make new friends and support people on this all important journey we are on.

Lastly, I plan to do True Confessions and Weigh In posts every week. I also plan to switch where I post them between this blog and my Sisterhood blog. Hope you'll visit and follow my progress because there will be progress. I'll be checking out your posts too.

Together, we can all do this!

Long Time No See

2011-05-29T15:31:00.000-07:00

First and foremost, I have to apologize for being so absent from this blog. It seems like since I took the contributing writer job at Shrinking Jeans, I rarely am over here. That all changes now. I miss this blog. This is where the weight loss and fitness journey really started to click for me. This is where I found the courage to do the Exposed post. This is where I need to get back to writing at again. I hope someone is still out there to listen.

I had a true adventure last weekend. I had my first real press event for the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans. I covered the Self Magazine Workout in the Park in Chicago. I had so much fun. It was an amazing day. Here's just a few high points.

I got to work out with women of every size, shape and fitness level. I did a Pilates Fusion class. I had forgotten how much I liked pilates and how it can kick my butt. My abs were sore for days. I also did Reebok Tighten and Tone class. Again, totally kicked my butt. I did several of the classes that were always going on at the main stage.

I knew when I went that I was going to have the chance to interview a rep from Self magazine. What I didn't know was that while I was waiting for them to find her...I got to meet Alison Sweeney. I got to talk to her and get my picture taken with her. She was amazing and so sweet and friendly. She was talking about the Biggest Loser finale and how she loves coming to events like Workout in the Park.

I even got to work out with Alison. She was so down to earth. She didn't care who wanted to talk to her or take her picture. She was open to everyone. She was awesome!

There were some funny parts to the day. This work out was too funny for words. I wish I could tell you what I called it, but that would be mean.

The day was so much more than I ever expected it to be. I even had a VIP wristband. Me...a VIP! My daughter and one of my best friends went with me. We all had a blast. The swag was wonderful and our bags were overflowing by the time we left. The weather threatened rain all day, but it never did. It was a day that I won't forget for a long time.

Last but not least, my zumba and boot camp instructor started a fitness website. You should check it out. I love it and her!

http://2b-fit4life.blogspot.com/

I don't know why the comment link is down so far and won't come up, but it's down there. Please leave me a comment if you visit. Then I'll know that someone was here. Thanks.

Neglected

2011-02-13T06:33:00.001-08:00

I realized recently that I have been neglecting some of my blogs. I'm not exactly sure how I have come to have four blogs, but I do. I started this one to document my weight loss and fitness journey. Now that I am a contributing writer for Shrinking Jeans, I tend to do most of that over there. But, I feel bad for neglecting this blog because this is where the journey started and has a lot of my story. I need to be better about using this blog too.

Friday night was Zumbathon 2011. It was awesome and exciting and so much fun. I had no idea I could zumbia for two hours. All the proceeds are going to the American Heart Association. This was such a success, James O'Connor Martial Arts and Fitness is going to do more for other charities. I think the next one is going to be in April with the money going to a charity very close to my heart...The March of Dimes walk.

I started back on Weight Watchers and am very happy. My first week, I lost six pounds. I know that all my weeks won't be like that, but to start that way was inspiring. I have joined an exercise class and do boot camp on Monday and Wednesday, zumba on Tuesday and Thursday and yoga on Saturday. I'm still doing a walk/run on the treadmill and the wii fitness games. I think I finally have found my fitness groove and it feels good.

We have had so much snow this winter that I am sick of it earlier than I normally am. I'm ready to be able to get out and walk and hike in the fresh air and sunshine. I just hope that groundhog was right about spring being right around the corner.

Well, I feel better now that I have been back on this blog. Now let's see if anyone is still checking in on it.

Who Says I'm Stylish?

2011-01-24T17:26:00.000-08:00

Bari does!

My blogging friend Bari gave me this award last week and this was the first chance that I had to acknowledge this. Bari and I became friends through blogging and the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans. We actually met in person for the first time a few weeks ago. She is the kind of friend that everyone should have. She is inspiring by her actions and words. She'll tell you when you are doing good and she'll also tell you to get your tail in gear when the need arises. Thank you Bari. You are the best!

The next part says to share some things about yourself. Bari shared seven, so I guess that is the number to do.

1. I became one of the newest contributing writers for the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans a few weeks ago. I am proud and thrilled beyond belief.

2. I prefer to be the passenger and not the driver once I leave my local surroundings. Big city traffic scares me. Why do people live in those cities and put up with that every day?

3. I took my first yoga class this morning. I was prepared to stretch, but boy did we STRETCH. It was pretty intense.

4. I love to use my crock pot especially during the school year. It just makes my life so much easier and there are so many recipes to try.

5. I also started going to boot camp and zumba. Boot camp is okay, but I love zumba. I was afraid of looking stupid, but everybody looks stupid. Everyone except our wonderful instructor Irma. She is the bomb.

6. Back when I was a kid, one of my best friends had horses. We even used to ride them all the time and even in our hometown parades. I used to love it. I think I still would if I ever had the opportunity.

7. I love to hike. My very favorite place to hike is the Smokey Mountains. I really need to get back there one day. We've been there five times, but haven't been there is quite a few years.

Now I am supposed to pass this along to seven of my favorite bloggers. I really don't like to do that to people, so let's do this. If you'd like to play along, grab this award and have at it. Plus, how could I pick my seven favorite bloggers? That is way too hard.

Thanks again Bari. This came at a time when I really needed to hear that there were still people out there that liked me. XOXO

Hello Little Blog

2011-01-23T04:41:00.000-08:00

Most of you probably know that I was chosen to be one of the new contributing writers for the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans. I was so happy to be chosen. It was like a dream come true.

I have been a member of the Sisterhood almost since it's beginnings. I have loved being a part of it. Being a real contributing part now is awesome. I just posted my first official post today. Check it out here...http://bit.ly/g6AN6P

Because I have been over there so much this first week, I feel like I have neglected this little blog. I did my True Confessions and Weigh In over there. So I thought I would come over here and tell you how my week has been going.

The big exercise news is that I have been going to boot camp and zumba. I love boot camp. It is hard and challenging, but I really love it. You totally get a super workout. The jury is still out on zumba. It's a whole hell of a lot of shaking. No down time. You just keep moving. The worst part is that you do this looking into a wall of mirrors. Graceful and rhythmic I am not. They do turn the lights down, so that helps some.

I'm trying to run again. I bought myself some new One More Mile shirts to inspire me. One says "Slow is the new fast". Another says "Slow mileage is better than no mileage" and my personal favorite "I thought they said "rum"". My plan is to run a 5k in March and run/walk a half marathon in June. Wish me luck. I'm kinda old with bad knees.

What have you been up to this week? I need to go and make birthday breakfast for the hubby and get ready for his party and the Bears game. One game away from the Super Bowl!

Bear Down!

I'm Over Here

2011-01-18T14:43:00.001-08:00

If you are looking for my True Confessions post,

you are going to find it over here today.

My Big News

2011-01-16T15:38:00.000-08:00

I can hardly believe that you can find me here now!
http://nancy.shrinkingjeans.net/
I am excited beyond words.

A Great Meeting

2011-01-15T14:25:00.000-08:00

Today was a good day!

I got to meet Bari in person.

We met through blogging.

Bari and her adorable daughter were coming through very close to where I live on their way to a gymnastics meet. My daughter and I took off and met them at the outlet mall. We did some shopping, had some lunch and did a little more shopping. Bari was everything I thought she would be and more. We had a great time and I can't wait to do it again.

Power of One / Weigh In #2

2011-01-11T19:02:00.000-08:00

If it's Wednesday, it must be weigh in day over at the Sisterhood. I've been looking forward to writing this post since the weekend. I've had an epiphany of sorts and can't wait to tell you all about it.

Let's go back to last Wednesday and the first weigh in. I said that I was fat. I thought I was just stating a fact. I guess I was wrong. People were not happy that I said that. That was the first thing that got me thinking.

Next, we go to Friday. I wrote my Power of One project 1. You know the one where we were supposed to go back and read our letters to ourselves from last January. This post did not make me happy. I felt like a huge failure, but the post got some great comments. My awesome friend Bari said "2010 was still a success because you learned what didn't work for you. Now you have all of 2011 to make it work and I know you are going to be great!". This was the second thing that got me thinking.

Now we go to Saturday. It was Virtual 5k day. I did my 5k on the treadmill and I did a lot of thinking while I ran/walked. I thought about a lot of things, but I kept going back to Bari's comment. I realized that she was totally right. If I wanted to, I could learn from my mistakes and have a new start in 2011. This was definitely what I wanted to do and what I needed to do.

Sunday I was thinking about the 2nd annual 1/2 marathon in California. I can't go. The timing is all wrong because I'd miss preschool graduation and that could mean my job. It's also half way across the country for me. I started looking and found a 1/2 marathon an hour away from home. The coolest thing about it is the finish line is on the 50 yard line of Notre Dame stadium. I love Notre Dame football. How cool would that be!!!! So, I'm 95% sure I am going to run/walk this, if my friend or daughter will do it with me and right now, it is looking like they both will. I would have to do it with them to run/walk it. The absolute best part....it's on June 5th! The same day as the Sisterhood 1/2 marathon.

Fast forward to Monday. I did my first functional fitness class. It was hard and it pushed me and I loved it. I found out that in a group setting, I'll push myself further than by myself. The good news is I have a new start and a new attitude to go with it.

So now we come to today and the weigh in. I weigh 198.5. I weighed 199.6 last week. That means that I lost 1.1 pounds this week. I am very happy with this. It's my new start.

Lastly, about that fat thing. I promise not to say it anymore. If I'm feeling the need to say it, I'll go with "fluffy". I'm the fluffy girl, but boy am I the happy fluffy girl!! And one of these days, I'll be the "former fluffy girl". Just you wait and see.

True Confessions

2011-01-11T05:17:00.000-08:00

I have about three minutes until I have to leave for work, so this is going to be the shortest True Confessions ever.

I confess that I am having a pretty darn good week. If you read my virtual 5k post, you'll know that I had an awaking of sorts during that walk/run. Bari made a comment about my letter post and it got me thinking. It pretty much all started with that comment. Thanks Bari.

I guess we'll know for sure tomorrow how good this week really was, but even if I gained a pound, I learned a lot in the past few days. I have a new attutde for the new year and I'll tell you all about it tomorrow on the weigh in post.

The Sisterhood Virtual 5K

2011-01-08T07:56:00.000-08:00

It is Virtual 5K Day at the Sisterhood.

I laced up my Asics, filled a water bottle and headed for the basement.

I would have liked to go outside, but it's really cold, snowing and icy here in northwest Indiana.

I turned on the tv and hopped on the treadmill.

I was determined to make this workout count.

If you read my post yesterday, I wasn't real happy looking back at my letter to myself from last January. I'm not that girl that I dreamed about last year. Not even close.

Bari left a comment on that post that really made me think while I was on the treadmill this morning. She said "2010 was still a success because you learned what didn't work for you. Now you have all of 2011 to make it work and I know you are going to be great!" You know what? She is totally right. I have a new start and a new attitude to go with it.

I know that I have said this before. We probably all have. But something about this time feels different. I didn't like the way I felt when I read last years letter. I don't want to feel that way again next year. You'll have to come back on Wednesday for my weigh in post to hear all the details of my plan. You'll want to see my weight loss too because I am expecting a good one.

On to the real reason for this post.

My virtual 5k results.

May we have a drumroll please..........

Check it out.

I know for lots of you, this isn't a great 5k, but for me, it's awesome.

My only problem was that I didn't know exactly what the conversion of a 5k to miles was. I knew it was somewhere around three miles, so I stopped at a round calories burned number.

475 calories burned!

I never went below 2 or over 5 for my speed, but I'm proud of myself!

Power of One Project #1

2011-01-07T21:16:00.000-08:00

Dear 2011 Nancy,

I'm going to give this first paragraph to 2010 and then we are going to leave it behind. I had big dreams when I wrote this letter last year. Big dreams! I was a big talker. A big talker with not a lot of follow through. I'd do good and then I'd slack off. I'd do good and then I'd slack off. Do you see a pattern here? I was going to learn to run and when it got hard, I quit. I had 10 pounds that I kept playing with. Up and down and up and down. 10 pounds is nothing when you need to lose 40 or 50 pounds. 2010 was not our year for success. Plain and simple.

Now we have to look to 2012 and what we will have accomplished by then. I guarantee you my friend that we will have done much better than we did with 2010. Let's look ahead and see what we did.

Right out of the shoot in January, we got back on Weight Watchers and we really got our money worth. We liked the new Points Plus program and worked really hard at staying with it. We worked hard enough to lose 30 pounds. We still have some more to lose, but we have a great start.

We gave running another try. We kept at it and even though we don't love it, we like it. We ran three 5K's and are even considering trying something longer.

Exercise has truly become a real part of our everyday life. There is rarely a day that we don't do something. Wii games are a favorite along with pilates and kettle bell workouts. We logged some serious time in the basement on the treadmill, bike and elliptical.

We found a better balance in our time for our self. Family and work still take a big part of the day, but we found a way to be sure there is time for just us in the day too. It took a little trial and err, but we finally figured it out. I think that's how we really got this whole process started.

So...I think we did pretty darn good this year. We no longer say the word fat about our self. We save that for chubby babies. We learned to truly believe in our self. We don't let others define us. We learned that we are pretty awesome. We learned that if we want it badly enough, we'll find a way to make it happen.

I can't wait to see what 2012 will bring!

Love you,

2010 Nancy

The Power of One / Weigh In #1

2011-01-05T04:09:00.000-08:00

Hi. My name is Nancy and I am fat!

This is my new mantra. I don't mean for it to sound like I'm putting myself down.

I just mean for it to sound true.

Because guess what? I am fat. There is no two ways about it.

I just think that if I keep reminding myself by saying this often, I stand a better chance of not doing the wrong things and eating the wrong things.

Today is the first weigh in of the new challenge. I'm happy with my results. I weigh 199.6 pounds. I lost .8 pounds. Although it certainly could have been better, with the holiday it could have been worse.

I'm glad the holiday is over. It was fun while it was here, but it's time to get back on track. I went back to work on Monday and that has helped a lot. I'm back on a schedule and I am doing the things that I need to do. I spent the first hour of Biggest Loser on the treadmill and elliptical. I spent the second hour doing the tworkout.

Here are my goals for this challenge, in case you missed them before. I did forget one goal in that list. I'm trying to remember to take my vitamin every day. I know that I feel better when I do. I also forgot about getting to bed at a decent time. I have been really trying to do that since Saturday night. The latest I've been up is 11:00 and that is really early for me.

This is what is going on for my first weigh in. I can't wait till we weigh in next week. I have one whole week of good eating and exercise ahead of me with no holidays or parties ahead of me. Check back next week and see how I did. I think it is going to be awesome.

p.s. I wanted to tell you about a free site I found. It's sponsored by Tylenol and it's called Just Keep Moving. It helps you create a wellness experience that focuses on exercise, nutrition, and healthy, active living. Just for registering, they will send you a pedometer and a dvd. If you want to check it out, here's the link https://www.justkeepmoving.com/econsumer/jkm/index.view

A Better Me

2011-01-01T17:44:00.000-08:00

There were fireworks all over town last night.

I'm planning on a few fireworks of my own this year.

More than anything, I want to be a better me. I want to be better in all aspects of my life. I want to be a better wife, a better mom, a better grammy. I want to be a better teacher. I want to be a better daughter and sister. I want to be a better friend.

I want to listen more and preach less. I want to give more and want less. I want to play more and stress less. I want to cuddle more and worry less. I want to remember that the best things in life aren't things.

One of my favorite quotes (I'm a nut for quotes) is "A goal without a plan is just a wish.".

I've been wishing that my body would be different for too long. I have made that wish a true goal for 2011. If you read my True Confessions last Tuesday, you know I have goals. Nobody but me can make this change. It is only a job that I can do. I've been talking about it and half heartedly doing it for too long now.

The better me that I want in those first two paragraphs will only happen if I accomplish the last paragraph. I want to be a "better me" and I am going to do it. 2011 is my year and I won't let myself down again.

I have so many friends through this social media that I have never met that have no idea what an inspiration they have been to me. I know they are mostly all younger than me, but this old dog still has a little bark left in her. I can keep up with them.

I can do this and I will do this. The "better me" is right there waiting to be let out and fly and 2011 is when I give her wings. Stand back friends. I'm taking flight.

A New Blog

2010-12-31T23:20:00.000-08:00

I started a new picture blog for the new year.
A picture a day for 365 days.
Please come visit.
http://a365view.blogspot.com/

The Power of One / The Beginning

2010-12-29T07:25:00.000-08:00

There is a new challenge starting today at the Sisterhood and it has me really excited. I say that every challenge, but I really mean it this time. The Power of One is all about me and only me. It's about what I can do for me and only me. It's about learning to love me and care about me. It's about giving to myself and not every one around me first. At least that is what I think it's about or what I am going to make it about. Me baby, just me!

I am starting this challenge totally disgusted with myself. I have crept back into that decade that I swore I would never see again. Just barely, but I still did it. I weighed 200.4 today and it made me sick. I thought I kept things better in check this holiday, but I guess not. As they say, the scales don't lie.

I am supposed to state my healthy living goals for this challenge. They will be my healthy living goals forever, if I have anything to say about it. Here goes....

1. Never miss a Wednesday weigh in.

2. Keep my water intake at no less than 64 ounces a day, but shooting for more than that.

3. Keep all the unhealthy snack crap out of the house. If my family insists on having it, they can keep it in other places than the kitchen and not tell me where it is.

4. Exercise no less than 5 days a week. I have to walk every day! No excuses.

5. I need to be doing cardio 3 to 5 days a week. It can be EA Sports Active or Wii exercise discs, but it has to be cardio.

6. Do the tworkout every week.

7. Get back to logging my food. I don't do Weight Watchers anymore, but I can still log my food. I need the accountability of that.

8. Don't think of all this as a way to lose weight. Think of it as a way to get healthy and stay that way and hope that the weight comes off in the process.

9. Don't let all the outside influences in my life sidetrack me in my quest.

I've had a lot of problems with number 9 in the last month or so. I know I've been cryptic about it in my posts and that's how it has to be, but being home this last week or so has made a huge difference in my stress levels and I'm hoping it can stay that way.

I think I might take pictures tonight. I'll definitely measure. I don't think I'll be posting the pictures now. Maybe at the end of the challenge if there is a visible difference. I had enough stress with the "exposed" pictures for now.

That is the plan ladies. I am truly looking forward to this challenge. Maybe I can be the next Mary and be the old girl who wins this. I'm going to give it my best shot. Catch me if you can because I have the "Power of One"!

Holiday Hoedown Finale

2010-12-22T01:54:00.001-08:00

Where did this time go? How can it be the finale of this challenge when it seems like we have just begun. It's like time is just flying be lately and I'm just trying to hold on. I feel like I'm just flying be the seat of my pants lately.

I started this challenge at 199.6 pounds. I wasn't happy about that at all. I finish at 196.1 pounds. Unfortunately, that's what I weighed last week. I was hoping to post a loss for my team. You see, we've been in first place the last two weeks and I was hoping to finish there. We'll just have to see happens. Anyway, that means I post a loss of 3.5 pounds for the challenge.

The thing that I loved most about this challenge was being an honorary Hibner for six weeks. They are the best family ever and so much fun. I met Beth when I had her kids in preschool. I met her mom, Mary through them and her sister, Amy doing the March of Dimes walks. I met sister Sarah at Beth's baby shower. Everyone else I met via the internet during this challenge. They are a fun and supportive family and I loved being one of them for this challenge.

The thing that I loved least about this challenge was my attitude for the last few weeks. I've had some major stress going on and most of my loss has been from stress and not my actively working on losing the weight. I'm on my two week Christmas break from work and I plan to relax and regroup and get my head back on straight and get ready for the next challenge.

The Power of One sounds like just what I need right now. I need to get back to me. Thinking about me and working on being the better me. I need to remember that I can't control everything in my life and sometimes you just have to let go and let it all unfold and start from there.

It sounds like Christmas eve is going to be just me and the hubby. Weird! We will have the kids and grandkids over for our traditional Christmas breakfast. We'll eat and open presents and it will be wonderful. In the afternoon, we will all head over to my mom's house for the big family Christmas dinner. All 33 of us. Mom's house isn't that big, so when we start to open presents and the paper starts flying, it is something to see. The 26th is my oldest daughters birthday, so once again we will be eating and celebrating. Christy said that the average person gains 11 pounds during this season. That scares me. I'd hate to thinkof starting the next challenge over 200 pounds.

So I'm promenading off into the sunset of this challenge a little lighter, but a little stressed. I'm hoping the next two weeks will change all that and I'll be ready to focus on the Power of One and that One is me!

True Confessions

2010-12-14T05:47:00.001-08:00

So...it's Tuesday again and I'm in the same rut I was in last week.

Not good!!

Those damn stress levels are still way up there and I have more going on this week than last.

I wish I could explain to you all what is going on, but I can't. If you live in the area, you will probably know. But, that isn't even the whole problem.

I had a huge wake up call though on Saturday morning.!!

I had a surprise college graduation party for my daughter on Friday night and I was uploading the pictures to the computer Saturday and saw this picture.

I cried. I really cried. My ass is the size of a barn door and I'm not saying that for sympathy. I'm saying it because it truly is.

What a freakin wake up call that was.

Stress or no stress, I have to get that fat ass in gear again.

I am so embarrassed I could die.

How did I not see this before? I knew I was fat, but obviously I haven't seen a picture of me sitting down in a long time. Standing up it doesn't look that bad. Maybe in some weird way, this is a good thing that happened. Maybe shock therapy is what I needed.

Here is the plan to move on from this point.

1. I have to eat. I've eaten so little in the last few weeks. It has been nice for weight loss for my team, but not good for me physically. I'm tired and crabby. I just don't feel good.

2. I'm back to drinking 3 or 4 diet cokes a day. I haven't done that in probably close to a year. I'm back on the water starting today. I feel a headache coming on, but I can deal with it.

3. I have to exercise every day in some way. I have two new wii workout discs and I am not even using them. How stupid is that?

4. I have to get to the store and get some good food in this house. It's not that I am eating bad food so much as I'm just not eating.

5. I am looking forward to Friday. It's the last day of school and then two weeks off for Christmas break. I promise that I will use those two weeks to truly get back on track and lose the fat ass and every other fat body part that goes with it.

6. I promise myself that I will work on the inside of me. I have to get beyond everything that is going on around me and get back to me and what I can control.

7. And I'm going to start this all off with the tworkout tonight. I totally missed it last week by falling asleep in front of the tv set wating for it to start. That will not be happening this week.

What about you? What do you have to confess? let me tell you that I feel better just saying this all to you. Try it!

True Confessions

2010-12-06T18:13:00.001-08:00

I don't even know where to start with this confession this week. It's been one hell of a week and I haven't been good about much. The stress levels in my life are at peek levels and I can't even really tell you why. It's all stuff that I can't talk about right now. It sucks! It just sucks big time. Here is what I can tell you.

1. I'm hardly eating and when I am, it's pretty much crap. When I am a ball of nerves, eating makes me sick to my stomache. I'm worried that I won't have a good loss this week because I keep hearing that not eating can be worse than eating too much. Supposedly, my body will try to hold on to what it has. Just my luck.

2. With the exception of 50 minutes on the treadmill, the only exercise I have done has been on the wii. I suppose that is better than no exercise at all.

3. I have so totally let my team down this week. I was the one who was so excited last week when the leaderboard came up. We were in 4th place and so not out of reach of 1st place. I sent out an email telling my team that we could take 1st place if we really tried. All I can do now is pray that my body gave up some weight instead of holding on to it. I have one day to work my ass off and see what happens.

4. After reading Mary's guest post at the Sisterhood about the new Weight Watchers, I'm beginning to think that maybe I shouldn't have cancelled mine.
5. I just realized that my True Confessions button is under this instead of on top of it. That's just how this week has gone.

I have a giveaway going on my other blog. I have a My Shape with Jenny McCarthy Wii game to give away. I've been wanting to try this for awhile now and found them for a great price on ebay. I got one for me and for you. I've only tried it once, but I liked it. Go over here and enter.

I hope you all had a better week than me.

Your Shape Giveaway

2010-12-03T19:58:00.000-08:00

I'm having a giveaway on my other blog for the Your Shape with Jenny McCarthy wii game. If you'd like to enter, go here.

True Confessions

2010-11-30T14:51:00.001-08:00

Confession time! Let's go with bullet points....

1. I did pretty well with food this week. I did really well on Thanksgiving. I didn't stuff myself by any means and I had one small slice of pumpkin roll that I shared with me granddaughter.

2. I am enjoying my exercise bike, but I haven't been real good about exercise this week. It has been super busy.

3. Last night I canceled Weight Watchers. I've been thinking about it for awhile now. I barely ever keep up with it and I sure don't have time to figure out something new. I've been doing okay just watching what I'm eating. If I decide I want to go back to it, I can, but for now I don't think so.

4. The stress factor in my life is at an all time high right now. I can't even explain why, but it is. Mr. Bacardi has been a good friend lately. We need to part company.

5. I got the EA Sports Active 2 and haven't even tried it yet. I was so excited to get it and now there it sits. I have to get my ass in gear. Why did I spend all that money for it to sit in the box?

6. I just ordered something for you and for me from ebay. I'll be posting a giveaway as soon as it comes and I have a chance to try it first. It's something that I have been thinking about for many months and I found it for a great price, so score for us all.

7. I need me a good tworkout tonight. Do you hear me April? I need to get back in this game. I have a team that I won't let down. They aren't just my team, they are my friends.

So, that's it. We'll see how it goes in the morning. I'm not really worried. I think it is going to be okay. Stress makes me lose my appetite, but then sometimes not eating is worse than eating. It's mystery till morning. Check back then.

Holiday Hoedown Weigh In Week 1

2010-11-24T05:17:00.000-08:00

It's the first weigh in for the Holiday Hoedown challenge. I'm down .6 pounds. I was hoping for more (of course) but I'll take it. I had 230 minutes of exercise. I figured out my plan for the challenge and one of those things was being good about logging my food on the Weight Watchers website. I was a little surprised that I didn't lose more because I was pretty faithful to that. Oh well, there is always next week. As long as that number is going down, I'm not going to fret.

One of the things I did this past week was meet Ali Vincent. She was the first female winner of the Biggest Loser in season 4. I could write a post a mile long about this night. She inspired me beyond anything I ever dreamed of. She was funny and truthful, but most of all she was real. You knew she wasn't telling you what you wanted to hear. She told her whole story and how it is still a struggle for her sometimes. I loved the night. She gave me new faith and hope that this is all going to work out for me in the end. I just have to believe it will and put in the work to make it happen.

I got a new to me/used recumbent exercise bike this week. I finally got my hubby to bring it in last night. I'm excited about it because I really love to bike and have been without a bike for some time now.
I did 36 wide stance girlie push ups last night during the tworkout. I was so proud of me. It was hard and my arms were shaking and my shoulders hurt, but I did it. It felt good. I've been doing push ups against the wall at school while I wait for kids in the bathroom. I did 58 yesterday and thought that was good, but last night felt better. They were real floor push ups and I pushed for every last one of them.

Speaking of kids at school, I better scoot. It's time for school and it's stone soup day. I love that story and the kids get a big kick out of making the soup. If I don't get back here to say it...
Happy Thanksgiving to you all. I'm thankful this year for all of you because you inspire and push me every day to this healthier life I'm seeking. Love you all.

HOLIDAY HOEDOWN

2010-11-17T15:06:00.000-08:00

Yee Haw!

It's time for a challenge partners.

I'm excited to be a member of Santa's Little Losers for this challenge. It's a family team (with the exception of me) and I couldn't be happier to be included. I'm an unofficial member of the Hibner family. You know that name, right? Like in Mary Hibner, Shrinkvivor champion. How about Beth "I Should Be Folding Laundry"? Or Amy who was a Lowdown Dirty Loser with me when our team won the Down and Dirty in 30 challenge. That is just naming a few. Yeah, I'm on a great team.

I'm ashamed to say that I have gained since the end of the last challenge. I weighed in this morning at 199.6. I am teetering very close to that number I said I would never see again.
I have my work cut out for me, but I do have a plan.

And here it is......

1. I am going to get back on my Weight Watchers plan and log my food. Why am I paying them money every month to not use the site?
2. I am going to walk/run no less than six days a week even if it is at night on the treadmill. I've been trying to do the C25K program. Life has just been too busy lately to do it every day.
3. Keep my water intake at no less than 64 ounces a day and trying to drink more than that.
4. Do a second form of exercise six days a week. It can be the shred, wii workouts (I'm waiting for More Workouts 2 to get here), Pilates or yoga.
5. Absolutely no snacking after dinner.
6. Get to bed by 11:00 every night. This is going to be really hard for me. I stay up till 12:00 or 1:00 most nights for no apparent reason just doing dumb stuff.
7. Do the Tworkout every Tuesday night.
8. Take my vitamin every day.

For a little extra kick in the pants inspiration, I'm going to see Ali Vincent, first female winner of the Biggest Loser speak tomorrow night. I'm really excited about it. I bought her book, but haven't finished it yet. I'm hoping she'll sign it for me. Anyway, she is speaking at the Healthy Woman expo in my town and I'm going with seven other girls from work. If she can't inspire me, no one will.

So, that is my plan. I turn 56 during this challenge and I'd really like to do it in a little bit smaller body. Here's hoping I can pull it off. With the encouragement of my team, I think I can.

True Confessions

2010-11-09T16:44:00.001-08:00

Here's the whole story......

I'm not doing bad, but I'm also not doing good.

1. I'm exercising, but not a lot.
2. I'm eating okay, but not great.
3. I'm drinking my water, but not as much as I should.
4. I'm going to bed earlier, but not as early as I had planned.

Do you get the idea? I'm doing it, but I'm really not doing it. Why is it that I get like this between challenges? I was all gung ho on Thursday when Mary won Shrinkvivor and I was still excited for my 5k on Saturday, but something happened on Sunday. I just kind of got the wind knocked out of my sails. My daughter has the flu, big time. I'm starting to feel a little crappy. Do I really feel crappy because I have a reason to or do I feel crappy by association? I'm hoping it's by association. Even if she is 23, I have been a good mommy taking care of my sick baby.

So, here's what I need. My dear sisters, please post the new challenge and all that it is going to be soon. Once I know this, I can get psyched up for it and get my mojo back. Until then, I have a tworkout to attend tonight.

Run Baby Baby Run

2010-11-07T12:11:00.001-08:00

We left at quite literally the crack of dawn for the Run Baby Baby Run 5k.

My family and I have done this every year since it started in 2004.

It is a fundraiser for the NICU at Memorial Hospital in South Bend.

My niece and God baby Courtney works there and both of her daughters started their sweet lives there.

Anna and Kamryn are both beautiful and healthy 7 and 4 year olds because of this NICU.

Kamryn wasn't quite so healthy on Saturday. She was home with her grandma because she had a sinus infection. Usually both girls are there for the race.

If we had changed to daylight savings time last week, we would have missed this beautiful sunrise.
Isn't it breathtaking?
And if my other God baby Ali hadn't looked in her rear view mirror, I would have missed this shot. I love the light from the sunrise shining on the trees.

We got to Plymouth finally after several detours. We didn't have a lot of time to check in. Good thing nobody had to go to the bathroom.

This Anna, our little NICU girl.

This is Emma, Anna's cousin. They are a month apart in age. They walked the whole race together and took great pride in the times they ran ahead of the older folks.

This is Maggie, my great niece. She ran the whole race with her mom, God baby Ali.

She's a great kid. Although soccer is her life, she gave this race all she had.
I was very proud of her.

Here we all are waiting at the starting line. I was appalled at the manners of some of the people. Far too many people talked and laughed through the entire national anthem. Even our little girls knew enough to be respectful.

Our first snowfall of the season made for some beautiful scenery.

My daughter Abby and her boyfriend Myles enjoyed the walk.

Like I said, beautiful scenery.

Here we are after the race doing what we all love about this race...eating the chili!

Next, it was time for the fun run.

Anna decided she didn't want to do it, but Emma was right there and ready to go.

And here she is after the race with her ribbon.

This is our little team. We usually have quite a few more than this, but the others had some conflicts this year. Hopefully, they'll be back next year because we all sure will be.

Could I look more stupid in the headband?

No t shirts this year. They gave hats in the swag bags. You saw how stupid I look in a hat in the above picture. I was more than happy to give my hat to Anna. You may have noticed the pacifier on top of the hat. That was my prize for coming in first place for my age group. It's not nearly as impressive as it sounds. It is a small race and there weren't that many people in my age group. I only ran three times during the race. I just started the C25K program and my running isn't pretty. This day wasn't about running and having a great finishing time. To be honest, nobody ever said what my finishing time was. It was about family and raising money for the NICU.

Here's the good news. My daughter Abby is going to do the C25K with me. We'll do the virtual 5k together in January, but our real goal is for March. There is a fundraiser for my school in March called Running with the Irish. We always walk it, but this year, we are going to run it. I'm excited to be doing this with her. My awesome and inspiring friend Mary has brought me a new commitment to exercise and fitness. She is older than me and doing so wonderful. You know Mary. She won Shrinkvivor. She's my girl and if she can do it, so can I. I'm ready to hear about the new challenge and give it all I've got. Mary made me realize that age doesn't mean a damn thing. It's the commitment that you are willing to give to achieve something that matters. Thanks Mary. You have made me realize (again) that I can do anything I put my mind to. I just have to want it enough to keep on keeping on and guess what, I do!!

Shrinkvivor Final Weigh In

2010-11-03T16:46:00.000-07:00

I'm not nearly as excited for the final post of this challenge as I was for the final post of the last challenge. I was vying for the win in the last challenge. No chance of that in this one. Funny thing is, I'm okay with that. Here are the stats.

I lost 1.2 pounds this week. I think that is pretty good being I had a gain last week. I'm happy with a loss.

I tried Billy Blanks Tao Bo (sp?) this week. It was kind of a retry, but I hadn't tried it in many years. I'm not a go to the gym girl. I refuse to pay anyone money for me to lose weight. I joined Weight Watchers this summer and that was a huge stretch for me. I found out that Tao Bo is really hard. It takes a lot of stamina. But, I also learned that it could be a really good workout, if you let it.

I was really good with my water. I kept up with my fruits and vegetables. I kept reading labels. I kind of journaled my eating. I can't remember all the other things we've done.

I started this challenge at 198.8 pounds. I finish at 195 pounds. That is a loss of 3.8 pounds. A loss is good, but I'm still .2 pounds off what I finished the last challenge at.

I am very excited to have started the C25K program. I really want to be able to run an entire 5k with no injury. I think this would be a real kick in the pants for me. My daughter has even agreed to do it with me. We are doing a 5k on Saturday and using my new Gymboss to run part of it in intervals.

Here is my plan for the next challenge. Whatever the challenge is, I am going to kick it's ass. I want to be my friend Mary for it. She is in the Final 7 for this challenge and she is a rock star. I want her to win so badly. She has worked so hard and deserves it so much. If you haven't voted today, please go and vote for her. I will track my Weight Watcher points every day no matter what. I have to get beyond this working and not having time thing. I will do some form of exercise every day. I will continue to do the C25K program. I will keep drinking my water and taking my vitamins.

I want to be the best me I can be. I think my girls on Twitter are a huge help. Last night they made me think that I can do anything I put my mind to. Guess what? I really can if I just want to enough and I do want to. I want to ring in my 56th year with a healthy attitude and smaller body. I have a little more than one month to do it and I promise you I will.

Lastly, why can't Fitbloggin be in June? I want to go and meet my fellow sisters so badly, but there is no way in hell that I can go in May. I would miss preschool olympics and my firstborn grandchild's birthday. I could lose my job and grandma status over missing those. One of these days I am going to meet some of these girls who have come to mean so much to me. I think you know who you are. I love you all so much!!

I Have a Friend.......

2010-10-31T05:59:00.000-07:00

I have a friend. Her name is Mary She is one of the Final 7 in the Shrinkvivor challenge. I would love it if you voted for her. Let me give you a few reasons why.

Mary is a 64 year old wife, mother, grandmother and great grandmother. She handles all those jobs with much love and giving. I know Mary as an awesome friend. But, Mary is also a person who has finally learned to give to herself. I think that is a flaw that many of us have. We give to everyone but oursleves. We were on the same team for the Lowdown and Dirty in 30 challenge. We kept each other motivated and we won that challenge. I have faltered a bit since that challenge, but not Mary. She went into this Shrinkvivor challenge with everything she had and look what she got. A spot in the final 7. She has really pushed herself this challenge. If you go to her blog and read her weigh in posts, I promise you'll be impressed. She has done amazingly awesome things with the fitness and non fitness challenges. You won't believe the miles she has logged. She does the Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred every day and is into level 2 now.

This is Mary on a walk we took at the Dunes this summer. She is also an excellent photographer.

Mary and I didn't meet through blogging. We met through her daughter Beth. I had Beth's kids in preschool and Mary would be there from time to time. Mary and I became friends through blogging. When we both decided to start blogs, that was when our friendship blossomed. I don't see her in person nearly enough, but our blogs and email keep us close. This is a picture of us in April at the March of Dimes Walk for Babies, a cause close to both of our hearts.

If you are trying to decide who deserves your votes this week, I hope you will consider Mary. Go here and watch her vlog. She totally impressed me. She told me she was nervous, but you'd never know it. She was honest and sincere and explains why she wants to be the Shrinkvivor winner. I so want her to win. She totally deserves it. She worked so hard and has come such a long way.

Please go here and cast your votes for my friend Mary.

Thank you so much

Shrinkvivor Weigh In # 7

2010-10-27T17:43:00.001-07:00

So, I confessed to you all yesterday that I was in a funk this week. I sure am proving it today with my weigh in post......

Not surprisingly, I gained .4 pounds this week. I'm actually pretty happy with that. I thought it was going to be worse. My mileage was a whopping 14 miles. The one thing I did do pretty faithfully was try to read my labels for trans fats.

With the exception of my walking, the only real exercise I did this week was the tworkout last night. I'm happy to say that I think that tworkout helped me turn a corner and I may be back to my old self. I'm waiting for the new challenges to come up. I'm off the next four days and the weather isn't supposed to be awful, so I'm looking forward to getting out for some walks and taking some fall pictures.

One last thing...my wonderful friend Mary is still in this challenge. She is not with me on the island. She is a member of Tribe Outlast. I am so proud of her. Keep up the great work Mary. I know you can do this!!!

True Confessions

2010-10-26T15:00:00.001-07:00

Confession is good for the soul, right? Then confess I must. There was this really positive girl that posted ten days ago. Where the hell did she go? We need to send out a possee and find her quick because the person they left behind somehow got into a funk.

Right off the bat, I'm drinking a Bacardi and diet as I type this. It was a rough day, but really. My day started off at 8:15 with myself and my partner shut off in the basement of our building with 14 three and four year olds while the tornado sirens blared. We were down there for 40 minutes until the all clear was sounded. When we came up, it was time for the rest of the kids to come and have our Halloween party. We repeated the party thing again this afternoon. Fun times! Now, that is not what put me in a funk. To be honest with you, I don't know what has. But here's what 's been going on the last few days.....

1. I can't stop eating. If I was still having periods, I'd blame it on extreme PMS. I just keep stuffing my face. What's up with that?

2. I've pretty much forgotten what exercise is. Bad thing because I have a 5k on November 6th.

3. I went from drinking almost no diet coke to drinking almost exclusively diet coke.

4. Water, what's that????

So girls, I think I need a good ass kickin! It seems like since I got voted to Exhile Island, I'm slacking big time. My good intentions that I was sticking to before have flown out the window. I need to get back on track and fast.

I think I need to start tonight with the old tworkout. I missed it last week, but not tonight. Okay April, I need you to work me big time! I'm counting on you!!

Shrinkvivor Weigh In # 6

2010-10-20T09:22:00.000-07:00

I come to you this week from Exhile Island with no graphics. My internet was down at home this morning and I won't be home tonight, so I'm posting this on my lunch at work.

I finally lost something this week. Nothing much, but something none the less. I weighed in at 195.8 this morning. That is a loss of .6 pounds. It's fine. I've been more involved in challenges this week and being I'm on the island now, I'm okay with that.

I logged 312 minutes for the fitness challenge. It has still been beautiful weather here in northwest Indiana, so I'm spending as much time as I can outside before winter hits. I've been trying to do either the Shred or a wii game first thing in the morning before work. I've done pretty well with that.

The non fitness challenge surprised the hell out of me. EXPOSE MYSELF! Surely you must be joking. But, guess what? I pulled up my big girl panties and I did it. If you haven't read it, check it out here.

I also have another post that goes with the Love Me project that I love. If you'd like to read it, it's here.

Okay, lunch is almost over and I haven't eaten, so I better go. Hope you are all doing well with the challenge. I can't wait to get home this afternoon and hear the new challenges. After last week, I can do anything!

What I've Learned About Love in the Last 13 Days.

2010-10-16T09:56:00.000-07:00

I have had a pretty amazing 13 days. I have been caught in a flurry of emotions. I've have dug deep in my soul. I've been full of thoughts. I've been frightened, perplexed, strong, brave, overwhelmed, but mostly I have been loved. And probably not by the people you might be thinking of.

It all started on October 3 when I took the pledge with many of my sisters to love me. It may not seem like a big deal to some of you, but for me, it was huge. I am the kind of person who puts myself out there for everyone and everything else and then has little or no time for me. Like Ado Annie in Oklahoma, I'm just a girl who can't say no. But on October 3, I promised to try to change that

So....I made it a point to find time for me and only me in every day. It showed in the Shrinkvivor challenges. For the fastest mile challenge, I finally broke my 15 minute mile and almost broke 14 minutes. Again, not a big deal for some of you, but huge for me. For the mileage challenge, I walked 26.2 miles in six days. As several people pointed out in their comments, that was a freakin marathon. I was doing this.

Now comes October 12. I'm on Twitter that night and everyone is buzzing about the Exposed Movement. I had no idea what they were talking about. I ask what's going on and I find out. To quote Melissa......

" What would it be like if we stopped wondering “what if” and “when I lose this much” and simply appreciated our bodies for what they ARE. Today. Right now. At this stage in your journey, how would it feel to say you love yourself and focus on the what your body has done for you and what it CAN do for you?".

I immediately said no way. This is not something that I would ever do. I could write a good post maybe, but never put pictures of myself out there in my undies or a bathing suit. You all have fun. I'm too old and too fat for any of this.

Never say never! Here comes October 13 and the new challenges for Shrinkvivor. I have never not done a challenge. I have always tried. I may not have succeeded in them all, but I always tried. The new non fitness challenge is to expose ourselves. Holy Mother of God!!! What the hell am I going to do now? I can't not do it. It's a challenge and I can't not do a challenge.

So....I sit down and I think. What am I so afraid of? That people will know I'm fat? Guess what? They already know that. Why else would I be trying to lose weight with the Sisterhood? Is it that I would have to face the fact that I am fat? I already know that. I've already accepted that. What's the worst thing that could happen if I do this? I would have to really accept who I am and how I look and put my money where my mouth is and truly love me for who I am and what I look like. Bingo!! That's it and I can do that.

Here comes the hard part....taking the pictures. Looking back, I should have used the timer or the remote to take the pictures, but I was just thinking "get it done". I wasn't thnking of picture quality. I put on a sports bra and workout shorts. That was as exposed as I was going to get. I went in the bathroom, took a deep breath and shot. Next, I put them on my blog and I wrote the post. The post was easier than I thought. There really are things that I like about my body. And then came the absolutely hardest part. I had to push Publish Now. So hard, but I did it.

In what seemed like seconds, I was getting comments on the post. I was overwhelmed. People were so genuinely kind and sweet. I couldn't believe that they were talking about me. It was awesome and amazing and I felt absolutely and totally loved. Loved by people that I only know through this social media site. I only know a very few of you in person. Two years ago I would have told you that it wasn't possible. Today, I can tell you that it is possible and I love you all so much. You mean so much to me and I don't ever want to imagine my life without you.

There were two things that really surprised me. There was a comment from my dear, sweet, wonderful friend Sharon. I had no idea that she even knew about this weight loss blog. I never told her. I was thrilled to read her comment though. She never fails to make me feel like a million bucks. I love her so much. She joined the Sisterhood today. She also promised me this morning that she was going to post an exposed post today. I guarantee you are going to want to read it. She is a million shades of awesome. I also noticed my beautiful daughters face in the followers pictures. I had never noticed it before. I didn't know that any of my family knew about this blog. It was my blog where I could be real and truthful with all of you. I didn't think I was ready for my family to know what I weighed. I guess at least one of them does now.

So, that is what I learned about love in the last 13 days. I learned that I really do love me. I'm really pretty awesome. I've got a long way to go, but I know I will get there and I will love me for me on this journey. I also learned that the people who are supposed to love you aren't always the ones that can give you the most love. People that I only know right here is this monitor can make me feel wonderful and awesome and so very loved. Thank you so much!

p.s. It's one of those days when Blogger won't let me make paragraphs. I'm not stupid, just frustrated with Blogger. Now that I have said this, when I hit Publish Now for the 4th time of trying, it will probably have paragraphs.

Exposed

2010-10-13T19:34:00.000-07:00

Until last night on Twitter, I had never heard of the Exposed movement. Some of my sisters from the Sisterhood were talking about it and how they were going to do it. The premise of the whole movement is to post pictures of yourself and tell the world why you love yourself. To say that you love your body and all the wonderful things it can do. They were discussing if they were going to do it in underwear or bikini. I laughed. At that point, I wasn't even considering doing this. Even if I was, I don't have any cute underwear sets and I haven't owned a bikini in more years than I care to count. After lots of tweets, I went to bed.

I didn't think about it again until I got home from work today. That was when I watched Melissa's vlog about the new challenges for this week for Shrinkvivor. Now I have never been one to step back from a challenge. I have tried everything the sisters have thrown at me. So I did some thinking. Do I want my fear of "exposing" myself to the world make me a quitter?

It's 24 hours from the start of this whole thing and I'm back on Twitter. The girls are all talking about there posts and pictures and I'm starting to feel guilty. If they can do this, what the hell am I so afraid of? It can't be that somebody might think I'm fat because I already know that is true. So I just said screw it and put on a sports bra and exercise shorts and got the camera.

After lots of thought and reflection, here is what I decided about my body.

This body has given me life for almost 56 years. It is not in it's best shape, but that is a work in progress. My stomache is soft and squishy, but it carried five babies in it. Four of those babies were full term and once they came two at a time. It was streched to it's limits and has the scares to prove it. But it's getting stronger all the time and can do 50 sit ups at a time now.

These arms can hug, comfort, lift weights, do push ups, cook, clean, write, type, cuddle and love on my grandkids.

These legs have walked two mini marathons. They can dance up a storm. They never fail to get me where I need to be. And when I really push them, they try to run.

Here is the bottom line. I may not be what I want to be
right now, but I am beautiful. I am a great wife and mother. I am a totally awesome grandma. I am a daughter, sister, friend and teacher. This body lets me do pretty much everything I want to do. This body and me are pretty damn awesome and when we post this next year, we'll be even better.

Now comes the really hard part....can I hit publish post?

Shrinkvivor Week #5

2010-10-13T05:12:00.000-07:00

We'll start with the not so great news. For the second week in a row, I have maintained. I'm still 196.4. I know it's better than gaining, but what the hell? I thought I was eating right, but I'm not positive because that food journaling challenge didn't go too well. In order to log my food, I've decided I need to quit my job. I have sucked at it since the end of August when I went back to work. I did great all summer while I was home. Seeing how quiting my job isn't in the cards right now, I'm going to have to figure this out.

I did well with the mileage challenge. I had 26.2 miles. I know for some people that isn't great, but for me, it is. Once again, that job gets in the way. I did more than usual this week because of the challenge, but other things got left by the wayside. Once again, I need to figure this all out.

Speaking of work, I have to get there. Hope you all did well and I'm pretty sure I'll be joining the island folk this week. I certainly deserve to. it's okay though. I love Jimmy Buffett. Maybe he plays some sets over there.

Shrinkvivor Weigh In #4

2010-10-06T02:50:00.000-07:00

Can you believe that it is weigh in #4? Time is going too fast. How can it already be October?

I'll start with the not so great news. I maintained this week. I had hoped to not do that this challenge. The stakes are too high, but maintaining is better than gaining. It could have been a gain, so I'll take it.

Now comes the amazing part of this post. Checkout these treadmill screens. I know that for many of you, these are nothing. I'm sure it is very slow for you, but for me, they are amazing. I have never been able to break a 15 minute mile before. I set my sights on doing that this week for the mile challenge and I did it. 14:04!!! I got as high as a 6 on the treadmill. I had never gone past a 4 before. I finished on 4 this time. There was a point where I didn't know if I was going to pee my pants or fall off like they do on Biggest Loser. But guess what? I didn't do either. I finished happy and sweaty.

The next challenge was the five servings of fruit and veggies. I rocked this one. I'm pretty good about it normally, but I made sure I got at least five servings this week. I found a great snack at Costco this week. It is dried apples, cherries and cranberries. Yummy.

I kept up on previous challenges of water and fast food. Still no fast food and no less than 64 ounces of water a day. I've finally gotten to the point where my body is used to the water and I'm spending less time in the bathroom. I'm not sure if that is good or bad. Could that have anything to do with my maintaining this week?

I was sad last week when we lost half of our tribe at weigh in. I felt terrible when we found out that one of the girls didn't weigh in on purpose because she felt like she was dragging us down. We have never heard from the other two girls at all. Our remaining three promised to make Georgia proud. I don't think I did that with my weight, but hopefully she'll be proud of my mile.

So now I wait. Wait till tomorrow and see where the chips fall. Whatever happens, I will remain proud of that mile. I never thought I could do it.

I Love Me

2010-10-03T06:13:00.000-07:00

So, first I took the pledge....

The Pledge to Love Myself.

I pledge allegiance, TO MYSELF.

Today I will proclaim it

out loud,

TALL AND PROUD

I LOVE MYSELF.

From this day forward,

I promise to be nice.

TO myself and ABOUT myself.

I will accept my quirks and I will love my faults.

I will love my shape, whatever it is

My bones, my muscles, my hair and my face.

My body, all of it, inside and out.

Because that is what makes me, ME.

And there is only one of me.

I will finally allow myself to see what others see.

My kindness, my spirit, my love.

And starting today, I will share some of it,

with ME.

Because I deserve it.

I will fight for myself, because I’m important.

And I deserve to be everything I am capable of in my life.

I deserve to find my greatness and live my life fully and completely.

With no regrets.

There is so much I want to do in my life,

but first, it begins with “me.”

I LOVE MYSELF.

Today, tomorrow, and every day after that.

I LOVE MYSELF, DAMMIT!

And no one can stop me.

Now comes the hard part. I am participating in the month long project over at the Sisterhood. It's the I Love Myself project. The Sisterhood is declaring October “I LOVE MYSELF” Month! A month dedicated entirely to finding acceptance and love in our hearts for ourselves. Because no one can love us completely and fully unless we love ourselves completely and fully first. There is plenty of love to go around, but we never quite have enough for ourselves and this October we’re changing that.

So that is how I am going to spend my month. Living up to the pledge I have taken and will reread every morning as I start my day.

Shrinkvivor Weigh In #3

2010-09-29T15:45:00.001-07:00

I'm not going to make big excuses for my pitiful weight loss. It was an awful week of stress and emotions, but I could have done better. I can't use that as an excuse. I lost .6 pounds. I guess any loss is a good loss though.

I kicked ass on the fast food challenge. Not one morsel of fast food. I have to confess though that I gave up fast food about a year ago, so this wasn't really hard to do. It's funny though that when people at work had fast food for lunch, it smelled good to me. That hasn't happened in a long time.

The exercise challenge was good too. I had 426 minutes. Every day I did 20 minutes of the Shred or Biggest Loser wii game and 50 minutes on the treadmill or outside. I got the extra six minutes last night doing the tworkout. I got a call that I had to take from a good friend who's husband had a heart attack on Sunday. By the time I got off the phone, everyone else was on the last exercise. At 9:00 at night, I lost my motivation. At least I got the first six minutes.
I've been real good about keeping up with my water intake. I never have less than 64 ounces and most days I have more.

My husband is leaving Sunday on a week long fishing trip. This should help my game next week. I can eat so much better when he's not around. My daughter and I won't have red meat at all next week. We'll have a lot more fruit and veggies. My daughter is very supportive of my efforts here.

That's my story for this week. How did you all do?

True Confessions

2010-09-28T09:27:00.000-07:00

I'm writing this at school on my lunch hour, so I can't put the True Confessions icon up. It looks kind of bare without it. I have a few things to confess.

1. I'm not overly confident about the weigh in tomorrow. It's been a rough week with the emotions. I think everything is working it self out now, but it was stressful for awhile. One of the most stressful things was one of my best friends husband having a heart attack. If you read my last post about Vickie's Chickies, this is Vickie's husband. Although it looks like he is going to be okay and the heart damage is minimal, I really don't know how much more this poor girl can take. You should read the last post.

2. Spending all day Sunday at the hospital, I did nothing and I mean nothing. I didn't exercise, I didn't drink water, I barely ate. Bad day all around.

3. Although I keep trying, I can't seem to make myself get to bed at a decent time. Midnight has become early for me.

So that's it. Nothing awful, but nothing great either. We'll see what happens tomorrow. I sure hope it doesn't end up being my week to be exhiled.

Vickie's Chickies

2010-09-26T08:02:00.000-07:00

I have a friend. A very good friend named Vickie. She is one of those friends that everyone should have. She would do anything for you, no matter the cost to her. She is in a real fight right now and myself and some other friends are helping in any way we know how.

One of those ways is to walk with Vickie in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk in October. You see Vickie's fight started almost six years ago with breast cancer. She did really well with that fight and we thought we won. Little did we know that last summer, her cancer would come back in her lungs. She is doing really well so far and we would like to fight to do everything we can to help keep it that way. Research is such a powerful tool.

There is a way you can help us. We are raising money for the walk. We would like our team to come in first place for fundraising. One of our moms at school is a Lia Sophia jewelry representative. She has offered to have a book party for us and give us her 30% commission.

Here is how you can help us.

For Online Orders: Go to www.liasophia.com/jessicadgage and then to the jewelry tab at the top. When prompted for hostess name, enter Vickie’s Chickies, shop using the online catalogs, then proceed to checkout. It’s very easy. In order for Jessica to close the party and get her 30% commission to us by our walk on October 17, this will have to be a short sale. All orders, online and on paper will need to be placed no later than September 30.I'm counting on any of you who can to help us.

Vickie has been fighting for a long year with things thrown it that no one fighting that fight should have to deal with. Her dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer and her mom had knee replacement. Very unexpectedly, she lost her mom when she fell at her home and suffered a head injury. She has been through too much. I hope you can help us.

Thank you so much for your support. It means everything!

Shrinkvivor Weigh In #2

2010-09-22T03:25:00.000-07:00

Woot Woot

I am so excited!!! Do you see that number? I lost 1.8 pounds. I worked really hard and it shows. I couldn't be happier.

I did all the things I said I was going to do. I tracked my food points. I worked out. I walked. I drank water till I sloshed.

I drank no less than 64 ounces of water a day. I have a 64 ounce (the amount of water you are supposed to drink in a day) water jug that I fill every night before bed. I start drinking when I get up. Usually I am finished with it before I leave work. Then I would come home and keep on drinking. Usually another 16 to 24 ounces. I was having a problem last week remembering to take the bottle to work with me. This week, I put a note on the bathroom mirror to remind me. I just put the bottle on the counter by my lunch and then I couldn't forget it. Problem solved.

I walked three miles a day for a total of 18 miles. I wish it was still summer and I was off and could have done much more. 18 miles is pretty good though, I think.

So, that's my story. Better get ready for work. I'll read all your posts tonight. Hope you all had a good week too.

True Confessions

2010-09-21T00:00:00.000-07:00

It's my first True Confession Shrinkvivor edition. It may be my best edition ever. I've been very good.

1. I have counted my points all week.

2. I have walked every day. I thought my mileage was pretty good until I saw Bari's on Twitter. You are awesome girl!

3. I drank no less than 64 ounces of water a day. Most days I drank more than that.

4. I went to a reunion type party with a bunch of the girls I graduated with. It was so much fun. I was very proud of myself. I ate very sensibly and drank no liquor. No Bacardi for this girl.

5. I ate lots of fruits and vegetables.

I did good, right? I'm actually excited for weigh in tomorrow and the Biggest Loser premier and the tworkout tonight. What is happening to me? I really like all this stuff now. It's about time, don't you think?

The Thursday Three / Love Me

2010-09-18T11:42:00.000-07:00

I'm running a little behind on this assignment because it's been a busy week. Sorry April! I really meant to get it done on Thursday night, but I didn't get home till after midnight. Yesterday was equally busy. Today, I have a little time this afternoon. The directions for this assignment were....

Today’s Thursday Three is a love letter to YOU. Write a love letter to yourself and include three things (at least) why you awesomely amazingly beautiful. Because, trust me, you are.

Dear Nancy,
Knowing you like I do, I was pretty sure you would have a little bit of a hard time with this. You are your own worst critic. Finding the good in yourself is not your strong point. You are much better at finding fault with yourself. It doesn't matter if it's true or not, you will find something you think is wrong. But, that is also something that you are working on.
It took some thinking and soul searching, but I did come up with some things that make me awesome. Yes, I said it. There are things that make me awesome.
1. I am a giver. Sometimes to a fault, but I love to do for others. Right now, I am working on fundraising for the Making Strides walk. (Shameless plug, widget on sidebar. Feel free to donate) It is a walk that is very close to my heart. One of my very best friends is fighting cancer right now and it all started with breast cancer. My sister and another good friend had better outcomes when their biopsies came back negative. I do many walks in the course of the year for different charities. I love to do them. It is such a positive feeling. I feel like I am doing something to help with things that are on such a huge scale. When every little bit helps, I am helping and I like that feeling.
2. I'm not afraid to have a good time. Believe it or not, this hasn't always been the case. I was always worried about what people would say, what people would think. Guess what, who cares. I'm not doing anything wrong. I like to go to baseball and football games. I like to go out with friends and our husbands. I like to go out with the girls without our husbands. I like to stay home and have friends over to play pool, play board games or watch sports. I just plain and simple enjoy having a good time.
3. I am the most awesome grandma. I really am and I don't mind tooting my own horn about it. I have three of the best grandkids. Today, we went to the Oz Fest parade while their mom and dad went shopping. I love to have them spend the night. We love to bake and go for walks and do crafts and go on little trips to the orchard or park or numerous other places. I think being a grandparent is one of the best things in the world and I am damn good at it.
4. I'm getting better and better at this fitness journey I am on. I'm sure not saying I am perfect at it because I have many a slip up, but I'm getting better all the time. I've gotten to a point where I think I actually like working out. I said like, not love but hey, that is certainly a step in the right direction
So my dear, you do have a little awesomeness in you. I just wish you didn't have to look so hard to find it. It's there. It's always right there where everyone else can see it, but you miss it most of the time. You really have to work on being good to you and seeing the good in you. You are an awesome, beautiful person and people tell you that often and you can never just accept the compliment. You shrug it off like they are lying. You have to stop doing that. You are a very worthwhile person who many people love and count on. You have to learn to love and count on you too. You are worth it and I know it because I am you. I might be your conscience, but I see all the goodness and light and all the colors of you. You need to see them too. Give it a try. I bet you'll like what you see.
Love you,
Nancy

Shrinkvivor Weigh In #1

2010-09-15T05:12:00.001-07:00

There you have it! The good, the bad and the ugly! The good would be the new challenge. The bad and the UGLY would be the weight. I almost lost it in the bathroom this morning when I weighed myself. Don't ask me why, but I didn't weigh in last week. So, imagine my surprise when I weigh in this morning and I gained 4 pounds since the end of the last challenge.

How do you gain four pounds in two weeks????? You know how....you stress eat. It wasn't like I was eating crap though. I was eating pretty good stuff. But, even good food in massive quantities will get ya. I'm certainly proof of that

Here's my game plan for this challenge.

1. Work really hard on the Monthly Project. I think that will really help with the stress eating.

2. Track my food on the Weight Watchers website. I have to get back to doing that. I keep saying it, but I just haven't gotten in the swing of it since I went back to work.

3. Drink the 64 ounces of water that i need to drink. It seems like I am doing it every other day for some dumb reason. I bought the big bottle and fill it before I go to bed, so it's ready to go the next morning. Some days I just forget to take it to work. Mental note to self....take water bottle to work.

4. Keep in close contact with Tribe Copper for support and inspirtion.

5. Work hard on whatever those weekly challenge things are called.

6. Remember that I have to be serious about this challenge and nobody but me is going to get this done. The time is now and I am the person who can do it. I just have to believe in me!!!

I just have to believe in me!

(does that kind of look like copper?)

Lose for Good / True Confessions

2010-09-13T21:43:00.000-07:00

UPDATE

The winner of the Lose for Good shirt is Mendie. Congratulations girl!

Please email me your mailing info.

Today is Lose-A-Palooza!

Lose-A-Palooza is a one-day social media event created to encourage participation in the Lose For Good® campaign** to benefit Share Our Strength and Action Against Hunger.

I am a member of Weight Watchers and proud to help with this special day.

I have purchased the shirt pictured above and you could win it.

All you have to do is help spread the word and leave me the link in your comment.

For every accepted mention or acknowledgment of “Lose For Good” made on September 14th through blogs, Twitter, Facebook and check-ins via foursquare, Weight Watchers will donate $1 – up to $60,000* – to Share Our Strength and Action Against Hunger.

This is a one day giveaway.

I will pick the winner on September 15th.

Now, on to the True Confessions part of this post. It's ugly friends, really ugly.

1. I have gained in the last two weeks since the end of our last challenge. I am embarrassed because my team won that challenge and I should still be losing, not gaining.

2. This one is really embarrassing considering the people involved in the first part of this post. I am still struggling with tracking my points on the website. I just can't get my @$#% together since I went back to work. If I do nothing else, I have to start doing this again. I was really good at it this summer. I can be again.

3. I haven't gotten a lot of exercise in this week. Who knows why? I just haven't.

4. My food choices haven't been horribly bad, but I haven't been planning meals like I should. Once again, that work thing is changing lots of the things I was doing this summer. One of my problems is we have snack twice a day at preschool. I have to not have snack twice a day at preschool.

the good news....we start a new challenge tomorrow and I am going to give it my all. I'm going to get my ducks in a row (what a dumb saying) and do my best. I'm going to do the meal planning and the exercise and the tracking. I am going to do whatever the challenges are in Shrinkvivor. I have been mulling over giving running another shot. I'm waiting to hear if the Sisterhood is going to do the November 5k thing again. That would make my decision easier. I'd try it again for sure for that.

That's my post. Help spread the word for Lose for Good and free yourself with your own True Confession. I feel much better. You will too.

Jump Start

2010-09-13T17:53:00.000-07:00

The Monthly Project at the Sisterhood this month is Free Yourself! Once and For All! The first assignment is the following....

This week PICK ONE thing that you really really really despise about yourself, something that you do that thwarts your weight-loss efforts, something that prevents you from making time, someone in your life that’s always negative, some inner monologue that always rears its ugly head and fills you up with doubt, JUST PICK ONE THING! And then exchange it for something better.

My first problem came with Christie's pick for herself. She picked exactly what I would have picked. I have spent the last four hours trying to think of another thing, but I keep going back to my original thought. Then it hit me...I can do it. Christie isn't the only person with this problem. So here it is....

Christie called it her constant feeling of obligation, but I call it my inability to say no. I bet you that at least half of our sisters here have the same problem. Why is that I will put everyone else's needs and desires above my own? It happens every single day of my life. Some days it's in little ways and other days it is in huge ways, but it is always there at some point of every day.

Tackling this is going to be tough and I'm not exactly sure how I am going to go about it. I'm probably really crazy to tackle this the same week we start a new challenge, but maybe this is the perfect time. I'm going to be needing some real "me" time for this challenge. Not exercising is definitely not going to be an option. That has to happen at some point in every day. I have to learn to say no, at least some of the time.

I'm not sure at what point we report back and say how we are doing, but until we do, I have a new mantra...."Oh sorry, I can't do that for you right now". Do you think I can do it? I'm going to give it my best shot. I've been a pleaser for so long, it is going to be really hard. If I can do it, it will be so freeing. I will feel better, inside and out. So much less stress.

Crossing my fingers and here goes...........

Fitness Giveaway

2010-09-07T19:59:00.000-07:00

There is one day left to enter my fitness giveaway on my other blog.

http://bacardimama.blogspot.com/2010/08/csn-stores-review-and-giveaway.html

Head on over and check it out.

Look Who I Get To Meet

2010-09-05T06:57:00.000-07:00

I am beyond excited for November 18th to come. I am going with some friends to hear Ali Vincent speak. She was the first ever female winner of the Biggest Loser. I loved her when she was on the show and I love her on the Biggest Loser wii game.

I need to hear her story from her. I need her experience and knowledge. I need her inspiration.

I just ordered her book from Amazon. I didn't know she had written a book. I wonder if I take it with me that night if she would sign it?

I feel like I am on a good phase of my journey to weight loss and fitness. I want to be healthy and happy. I feel like any tool that I can find to help me is a good thing. I think Ali will be a good thing. I just wish I didn't have to wait two and a half months to hear her. That's okay. I'll see how much more weight I can lose before I meet her.

I can guarantee you there will be a big old post after that night!

Down and Dirty Final Check In

2010-09-01T03:58:00.000-07:00

Today is the final check in for the Down & Dirty in 30 Challenge. I have loved this challenge. I have loved my team. We are the Lowdown Dirty Losers and we are awesome. I think we have a good chance of winning this challenge.

I am proud to say that I have consistently lost weight every week during this challenge. Last week I weighed in at 196 pounds. Today I am 194.5 pounds. That would be a loss of 1.5 pounds. I set a goal of 5 pounds to lose for this challenge. I made it. Here are my stats.....

Starting Weight 199.7 pounds

Weight Today 194.5 pounds

Total Loss 5.2 pounds

This challenge also brought me to the next peak in my weight loss journey. I have earned my 10 pound badge. I was 205 pounds when I joined Weight Watchers last month. Today, I have lost 10.5 pounds. I am really doing this.

I want to thank Christy for an awesome tworkout last night. That may just been what gave me the extra .3 pounds to get over the 5 pound mark. Love you girl!!

Now comes the hard part, waiting till tomorrow to see the final results. We have been in first place a couple times during this challenge. It would be a great way to finish.

Last, but certainly not least, I want to thank my absolutely awesome team. You have been wonderful and supportive. I never could have come out where I have without you. I will miss you all when I have to start the next challenge without you.

Okay, see you all tomorrow when the Lowdown Dirty Losers hopefully win the Down & Dirty in 3o Challenge.

True Confessions

2010-08-31T15:40:00.000-07:00

This is probably going to be the most boring confession I've ever written. I have been so good this week. You know we have the end of the challenge tomorrow and I really want my team to win. In the last team challenge, my team came in second and I still remember how it felt. I don't want that feeling again this time. So, needless to say, I have been very good and tried very hard this week. I have done a couple things wrong though.

1. I still have to get back on track with tracking my points. It's just getting back on track with being back at work too. I have been eating the right things, I just haven't been tracking them on the website. I must work on that.

2. We had a big family birthday party on Sunday. I confess that I had two Bacardi and diets. I didn't eat any sweets though. Mostly salads and veggies.

That's it ladies. Boring, I know, but I think that can be a good thing too. Hopefully, it all helps with the final standings for the challenge. We'll see later this week. How did you all do?

CSN Stores Fitness Giveaway

2010-08-30T20:48:00.000-07:00

I have a new giveaway at my other blog. Check it out at ......
http://bacardimama.blogspot.com/2010/08/csn-stores-review-and-giveaway.html

If you haven't looked yet, check out the post before this one for the winner of the EA Sports Active More Workouts giveaway.

EA Sports Active Winner

2010-08-30T15:14:00.000-07:00

The winner of the EA Sports Active More Workouts is #8, Amy.

I would have posted the actual random.org widget, but I couldn't figure out how to do it. Just call me computer stupid!

I'm really excited for Amy because she just happens to be one of my team members for the team challenge at the Sisterhood. The one that we plan to win on Wednesday.

Amy, please email me your address and I'll send it off to Kathryn and you'll be working out before you know it. I think you are going to love it. I sure do.

Thanks to everyone who entered.

Checking In

2010-08-25T03:58:00.000-07:00

Today's post is going to be short and sweet. I have to start school today. I could tell you lots of things, but I just have time for a few. Here we go......

Last week, I weighed 197.2. This week I am an even 196 for a loss of 1.2 pounds. With that loss, I am one pound away from my 10 pound badge. I'm happy.

I had a blast last night doing the tworkout with Tara Costa. She definitely put us through our paces, but it was great. Congratulations to all the people who won Subway gift cards.

As much as I would like to stay here and chat, I have to email my team and hit the shower. Wish me luck. Today is Get Acquainted Day with all five classes of preschoolers and their parents. I am especially excited about one little preschooler who starts class tomorrow. It's my granddaughter Natalie. This is going to be a great year.

Hope you all had a good week. Just not too good because I would like the Lowdown Dirty Losers to regain 1st place. Just kidding! I'll read all your posts tonight.

True Confessions

2010-08-23T20:18:00.000-07:00

It's that time of the week when we bare our souls and tell each other all the bad things we've done. A have a few this week. I've been pretty good though because you know we have this challenge going on and I'd really like the Lowdown Dirty Losers to win. If I screw up then I'm not doing my part to help my team.

I confess that.....

1. I let another week go by with hardly tracking my points at all. Why am I doing that??????

2. I have been going to bed way too late. Not for any good reason, just watching TV or being on the computer.

3. I haven't been drinking much water this week for some reason. I had been doing really well, especially since April introduced me to the SoBe Lifewater. I love that stuff.

Wednesday is the first day of school. I think that this is going to be a good thing for me. I'll be back on a schedule. I do much better on a schedule. Knowing how much time I have and when I have it works well for me. I'll be packing my lunch and planning dinners and eating a good breakfast. I won't be snacking and I bought myself a water jug that is eight cups. The number of glasses of water you should have in a day. My goal is going to be to fill it before I go to bed and then start drinking it when I wake up. I'll take it with me to school and the plan is to have it empty when I go home at 3:30. Sounds like a good plan, right?

I am really excited about the Tworkout tonight. Are you going to be there? Remember that it starts at 7:30 tonight instead of 8:00. It's going to be a blast.

If you haven't already, don't forget to enter my giveaway for an EA Sorts Active More Workouts for the Wii. The last day to enter is Saturday. Here's the link..

http://shesgettingserious.blogspot.com/2010/08/ea-sports-giveaway.html

Lastly, I'm getting a little excited about the new challenge being planned for us. The words used on Twitter this morning are "most awesome challenge ever". But, first I have to win the current challenge with my awesome team.

How about you? Did you have a good week? Did you have a bad week? Head over to the Sisterhood and tell us all about it.

My MS Walk

2010-08-18T11:47:00.000-07:00

On September 12th, I will be walking for Multiple Sclerosis. My team is called Motivated Spirits and our leader is a wonderful lady who just found out last year that she has MS. If you would like to help me raise funds for MS, please head over to my page and donate. No donation is too small or too big. Thank you so much. Here's the link...

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Walk/INIWalkEvents?px=8650683&pg=personal&fr_id=13656

Down and Dirty Check In

2010-08-18T05:40:00.000-07:00

Let's start this post with something fun. Look at the picture below. It is an EatSmart scale and I won it last night during the Tworkout. Were you there last night? If not, you should have been. It is a great workout to do the night before our check in. We challenge each other, we have fun and if you are really lucky, you win something cool. I'm really excited to get this scale. I can really use it doing Weight Watchers. I've been guesstimating (Is that a word?) my portion sizes and this should make a big difference in that. Maybe I could start having some big losses.

Now, let's get to the business of the morning. I lost. I didn't lose big, but I did lose. This morning I weighed 197.2 for a loss of one half pound. I have been telling myself that any loss is a good loss, but I would have liked more if for no other reason than to keep my team in first place. We'll just have to see how it goes.

Now, I'm going to head over to my team page and check in and see what everyone else did. I sure hope we can hold on to first place. That would be really cool. I hope you all did well too.

True Confessions

2010-08-17T05:59:00.000-07:00

Let me start this confessional with stating the obvious.

This little man is as cute as he can be, but grandma is getting too old to have him for two days.

I am tired! My daughter and son-in-law took the girls to a water park Sunday and came home Monday late afternoon. I kept Jack. Thank goodness he is a good baby, but I am still exhausted.

1. I have been horrible with logging my points this week. I think I did okay with the eating for the most part, but I never finished and never even started logging some days. Why am I paying them money for me not to use the program? I have to get back to it, like now!

2. My eating has been off. It's not that I'm eating bad stuff, I'm not eating at all sometimes. I'm not even sure why. I need to work on this too.

3. Walking is the one exercise that I am consistent with. The rest I have become sporadic with. What's up with that?

4. I am at the point in summer when everything is beginning to fall apart. I'm realizing that my break is almost over and I have accomplished very little. I need to get back to work and get on a schedule again. I do so much better with a schedule.

5. I wish I could go to Fitbloggin. The timing is all wrong for me though. I can't leave during the last few weeks of school unless I'm dead or dying. Plus the 21st is my oldest granddaughters birthday.

6. I need me a good tworkout tonight. Are you listening April?

7. All whining aside, I think I may have lost some weight this week. Just a feeling.

8. If you go down one post, you can enter my EA Sports Active giveaway.

That's it for now. See you all tomorrow for the Check In.

EA Sports Active Giveaway

2010-08-13T17:07:00.000-07:00

Remember last fall when we did the EA Sports Active 5k challenge? I was a community leader for that challenge and that was when I met Kathryn Peck. She is an awesome lady. So awesome that she has offered to give me an EA Sports Active More Workouts disc to give away to one of you. Like I said, she is awesome. I have this workout and I love it. It really gets you going and you really know you are working out. You can really get sweaty and huffing and puffing. It is a great workout. I am doing the 6 week challenge right now with Heather at the Sisterhood.Now here is some really exciting news. I just found out that EA Sports Active is coming out with EA Sports Active 2. It sounds like it is going to be so awesome.
EA SPORTS Active 2 is coming Nov. 16th for Wii, PS3 and Kinect for X360. It comes with a Heart Rate Monitor and you will be able track your progress online with their new website as well . The graphic below is from the new disc.

So, do want to win the More Workouts? I thought you might. Here are your ways to win.

1. Your mandatory entry

Answer the question...What is your favorite way to exercise?

Extra entries

2. Follow my blog.

3. Follow Kathryn on Twitter

@EASActiveGirl

4. Like Kathryn and Ea Sports Active on Facebook

www.facebook.com/EASPORTSActive

The giveaway will be open until August 29th at 11:59 p.m.

I will pick a winner using Random.org and announce it on August 30th

Down and Dirty Check IN

2010-08-11T05:21:00.000-07:00

I just got home from walking my daily 5k and I'm literally dripping sweat. It is so humid and it is only 7:15. April definitely put us through our paces last night with the tworkout. Were you there? Did you join in? My knees are still mad at me and I didn't win anything. I think it helped me this morning.

I was happy when I got on the scale. I am 197.7. Last week, I was 198.8. If my math is correct, I lost 1.1 pounds. That makes me very happy. I truly think a lot of that came of in sweat this week. It has been so hot and humid that working out was a total sweat fest.

I'm still in the process of cleaning out my pantry. I am amazed at the things that were pushed way to the back of the bottom shelf. It was really kind of sad. I have to do the freezer downstairs too. I can't even imagine whats in the bottom of that!

Lastly, keep checking back. I just found out yesterday that I'm going to be having a cool giveaway. More to come later.

I better go check in with the Lowdown Dirty Losers and see how we did this week. We kicked ass last week. We really did!

True Confessions

2010-08-10T17:53:00.000-07:00

I've had a pretty good week, so I don't have much to confess. Here is what I have....

1. One of our good friends was in town from Maine, so we had a few cocktails with them on Friday night. I counted them in my points and I was still within my point range. I didn't even need to use flex points.

2. My walking buddy was on vacation last week, so it was very easy to miss a few days of walking. I missed walking, but I still did the shred and one of those days I jogged in the pool.

3. The grandkids baked with their mommy and brought us some cookies. I had to try one. I couldn't hurt their feelings.

Like I said, not a horrible week to confess. Now, I just have to wait till tomorrow morning and see what the scale says. I only weigh myself on Wednesday morning, so I never know till then what I did. I think I lost, but who knows for sure?

First Check In

2010-08-04T06:09:00.000-07:00

Yee Haw

(as my 22 month old granddaughter says)

It's the first check in of the new challenge. I'm a member of the Lowdown Dirty Losers and mighty proud of it. We all clicked from the beginning and are thoroughly enjoying each other. We have a plan and are planning on winning this challenge.

When I last weighed in, I weighed 200.1 pounds. I had lost just over a pound, but was a little sad to not break 200 pounds. This week, there is no sadness here. I am 198.8 pounds and very excited. Not only did I break 200, but I earned my five pound badge and lost 1.3 pounds.

It's been a pretty good week. I have continued to shred and walk. I'm still doing the aqua jog, but not every day. We don't have a heated pool, so I can't do it first thing in the morning when I shred and walk. By the time the pool heats up later in the day, I don't always have the time. I do it as often as I can though.

So, that's my news. I'm excited to go see the awesomeness of my team now. I know we are going to kick some ass today.

True Confessions

2010-08-03T08:45:00.000-07:00

The worlds fastest edition of True Confessions. I have to be out the door in seven minutes.

1. I drank several Bacardi and diets over the weekend. A good friend is home from Maine for the week and we were having some fun and visiting on Saturday. I also considered that my last hurrah before the challenge started.

2. I went a little crazy with dinner last night and had to go into my flex points. We had grilled beer can chicken, dirty rice and stuffed jalapenos. It was worth it.

3. So far this morning, I haven't exercised and I always do that first thing. I woke up to walk and it had rained all night and was still raining. I did something I never do. I went back to bed. I was still up by 7:00, but it was great. My daughter fell asleep in the room that has the dvd player and shred dvd that I use in it. It's almost 11:00 and I'm out the door for a cancer doctor appointment with a good friend. I promise to get the shred done and hit the treadmill later.

4. I have a wonderful confession, but I'll save that for tomorrow.

Now, I've got to run. Hope you all did great. I'll read all yours when I get home.

I'm Getting Down and Dirty

2010-08-02T06:29:00.000-07:00

It's a new day and a new challenge over at the Sisterhood. I'm so excited about this one. It's a team challenge and only 30 days long.

I am a very happy member of team A. Team A has changed their name to Lowdown Dirty Losers. We are a team of six great ladies. I know three of them already and the other two seem wonderful. We've only been a team since Saturday, but we clicked right away. I think we are going to kick some ass.

Heather has started a 30 Day Shred challenge to go along with this new challenge. I just finished day two of that. I'm doing well on Weight Watchers and I'm still working out in the pool. I have big hopes for this challenge.

I've set a goal of five pounds for the challenge. More would be great, but I can live with five. It is only 30 days long and I go back to work during the challenge. I plan to have some guns when this challenge is over and I don't mean the kind in the picture.

The rest of the teams better watch out because the Lowdown Dirty Losers are coming out shooting and they are taking prisoners. How's that for smack talking?

Weekly Check In

2010-07-28T05:27:00.000-07:00

With the new look of the Sisterhood website comes a few changes. The first one being the weigh in being changed to a check in. I think this makes sense so that everyone can participate. I'm hoping that one of these days I will be one of the people that is just checking in because I have met my goal.

The good news this week is that I lost 1.3 pounds. The bad news is that takes me to 200.1 pounds. I was so hoping to break 200 this week. I guess I'll be doing that next week.

I'm still walking five mornings a week and doing my pool workouts. I'm throwing in the Shred and some of my Wii games here and there. It has been hot and humid here, so the latter not so much. I am very faithful to the walking and pool though.

So, that's it for now. Hope you all did well.

I Confess

2010-07-27T08:29:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, Tuesday! Don't you just love Tuesday. Here we all gather to confess our sins of the week. I have a few, but mostly I've been pretty good.

1. I unintentionally ate an awful burger on Monday night. Do not ever buy the Stockman and Dakota brand burgers at Jewel. Hubby just cooked them on the grill while I made good stuff to go with them. It never even occured to me to look at them first. I was just thinking a burger. I had just read a recipe on Weight Watchers online for hamburgers and it was 5 points. We get done with dinner and go to log my points. Ladies, I almost shit. That one stinkin burger had alamost 500 calories and cost me 13 points. Note to self,,,,check the box before you cook.

2. I intentionally used 4 of my weekly points to go over my points yesterday. I made jambalaya, stuffed jalapenos and black beans for dinner. I enjoyed every bite and I'm not apologizing. It was worth the extra points.

3. I confess that I love working out in the pool. I've only missed one day since I started. I took that day off becasue the backs of my calves were so sore, I could hardly walk. Bari was right. I was jogging on my toes and not putting my weight on my whole foot. I won't be doing that again. It hurt so bad Sunday night, it kept me up half the night.

4. I confess that I am very excited about the new challenege. The only thing that could make it better would be if we could pick our own teams.

So, that's it. I'll see you tomorrow at the weigh in. No wait...it's a check in now right.

Quick Note....

2010-07-25T11:17:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note to let you know that aqua jogging is going well. I've done it three days in a row now. Today, I was a little iffy about doing it. Although it feels great doing it when you are in the water, it must be a hell of a workout because my calves have been screaming for two days now. I've been jogging for a mile. I clip my pedometer to the top of my bathing suit to keep track. I've been doing butt kicks and high steps when I jog. Maybe that is what is hurting my calves. I've also been doing ab, arm and leg exercises in the water. I'm really loving this though. Who knew that this exercise wonderland was in my backyard all this time?

Mini Challenge / Love Me

2010-07-23T13:03:00.000-07:00

So.....there was this mini challenge at the Sisterhood this week. I think it should have been called a maxi challenge because it was hard. Monday thru Friday we were supposed to come up with ways to love ourself in 3 different ways each day. This was tough. I mean really tough. Lovin on me is something I don't do much of. I tried though.

Monday

1. Took a walk with a good friend.
2. Looked at myself in the mirror after my shower and didn't think bad things.
3. Finished a book I have been reading for weeks.

Tuesday
1. Enjoyed having the house to myself for a whole hour.
2. Gave myself a pedicure
3. Treated myself to a tall Bacardi and diet. Only 2 Weight Watcher points.

Wednesday
1. Put on some music and danced it out with my granddaughters.
2. Gave some very special tickets to a friend and her husband and boys and was thrilled to see how excited they were. It made my heart feel good.
3. Enjoyed a long soak in the tub with a good book.

Thursday
1. Went window shopping. No real shopping till the end of summer and I have lost some more weight.
2. Talked hubby into making me a book shelf for my cookbooks.
3. Got a manicure.

Friday
1. Found out that you can get an excellent workout in the pool. (see previous post)
2. I'm going to use some Flex Points (which I have never done yet) to have some fried fish at my daughters house tonight. It's fresh blue gill and perch that my husband caught. How can I resist?

I missed a few times in the course of the week, but at least I did it. It was hard and some of my stuff is lame, but I did it. I'm repeating myself. Mini challenge accomplished.

p.s. I apologize if this is all spaced weird but Blogger is being really weird. I've tried to post this twice and the spacing keeps screwing up. I tried!

Who Knew!

2010-07-23T11:49:00.000-07:00

Anyone who knows me in real life probably knows that I am not a water girl. I love my hot tub and my bathtub, but that is as far as my love of water goes. We have a pool in our yard that I can probably count on my ten fingers the number of times I have been in and we've had it for about eight years. I can't swim. Get the picture?

Today, it is so hot here. 90's and a bazillion percent humidity. You know the kind when it hurts to take a deep breath. I was cleaning house and I was dying. Remember the last post about no central air? I was texting back and forth with my daughter at work. She said why didn't I just break down and get in the pool. No one but me was home, so there was no threat of anyone seeing me in my bathing suit. I said no several times. Then I got to thinking. Maybe it would cool me off. So, I got in.

I floated for about five minutes and decided it was stupid. I was hotter baking in the sun than I was in the house. I jumped off the raft and I kinda bounced in the water. It got me thinking and I tried jogging. I jogged for 20 minutes and I loved it. It is nothing like jogging on pavement. Then I tried ab work. I liked that too. I tried squats and side kicks. Excellent. I tried jumping jacks and scissor kicks. Loved it.

Guess what? I am planning on doing that every day. I don't care who sees me in my bathing suit. They can watch me shrink right before their eyes. Weight Watchers, water aerobics, shredding, more workouts and a new challenge starting. I am so stoked right now. I really feel like this is all finally coming together. I might just be getting the courage to post before and after pictures on here.

Weigh In

2010-07-21T05:24:00.001-07:00

I know this is the end of the Shrinking days of Summer, but I don't have a final tally. There were weeks I missed weigh in, so I don't know what my total loss is. I'm looking forward to the new challenge now. With starting Weight Watchers, I know I can do good with that challenge.

Now, on to this weigh in.......

I learned something this week. People have told me that you have to eat to lose weight. People have told me that you have to eat all your points to lose weight. If you had a chance to read my True Confessions yesterday, you know that I've been having a really hard time eating this week. It has just been too hot! Because I haven't been using all my points, I don't have a great weigh in.

Today I weigh 201.4. That is a whopping loss of .4 pounds. That's not even a half pound.

So what have we learned this week? I have to eat! No matter how hot it is, I have to eat. I may have to be a little nauseous, but I have to eat. I'm hoping for a much better weigh in next week.

One last thing...if you want to try something yummy, try the Dark Chocolate Almond Kellogg's Fiber Plus bar. It's only 2 points and so good. See, I'm eating. I had one one while I typed this.

That's my new start on next week.

True Confessions

2010-07-20T05:42:00.000-07:00

This is the day we confess our sins for the week. I don't have a lot this week. I'm on a pretty good run right now because of starting Weight Watchers. I'm trying really hard. I just have a few and they aren't really bad. I guess that's a good thing.

1. I live in a 1930's house. It has hot water heat which means there is no duct work. Needless to say, we don't have central air. I've lived here for 37 years and we are likely to never have it. It would be really expensive to do. On an average summer, I don't mind much. Every room has a ceiling fan and there is a whole house attic fan to suck out the hot air. This summer is going to be the death of me. It has been in the 90's with 1000% humidity. You just drip sweat even when standing still. Imagine when you try to exercise. I haven't missed a day of walking, but I have missed some Shred and More Workouts.

2. I am having trouble eating all my points on Weight Watchers. When it is this hot, nothing sounds good. I'd much rather drink than eat. Eating literally makes me nauseous. I've been living on water, fruit and green pepper slices pretty much for the last two days. I have to try to make myself eat. It's not like I'm not cooking. My husband and daughter are eating just fine. Just not me.

3. Because of the last two confessions, I'm not expecting a lot in tomorrows weigh in. I guess we'll see. I have to start eating right. I know this. I just need the weather to cooperate just a little bit.

That's it for now. See you all tomorrow.

I Never Thought of It Like That

2010-07-15T09:56:00.000-07:00

I was walking this morning with my friend. The humidity was God awful and we were soaking wet by the end of the first mile. We kept on walking and talking. My friend said "Did you realize that we are doing at least a 5k every morning?". I never thought of it like that before, but we are. I am walking no less than a 5k five mornings a week. Not bad!

After we got home being I was already soaking wet, I did the Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred. Christy had mentioned that she was starting it again, so I figured why not. I had already started doing the More Workouts Wii game with Heather, so I did that too.

I was one sweaty mess, but I felt really good. Really hot and sweaty, but really good!

We Have a Winner!

2010-07-14T05:22:00.000-07:00

AND HERE SHE IS!

She might be a little sweaty, but that is what hard work will do to you. I danced all night at a wedding this past weekend. I think that qualifies as exercise, don't you.

Here's the good news....today I weigh 201.8. That is a loss of 3.2 pounds since last Monday.

I'm hoping to do better next week. I had three days this past week when I didn't have any access to a computer, so I guessed all my points. I refuse to pay for computer access on my phone. Now, I have my pocket points calculator and I'll never have to do that again. I think I did okay with my guessing though.

My goals for this week are to drink more water, exercise at least five days (last week was only four) and to track the points of everything that goes in my mouth.

I am Happy!

It's About Time!

2010-07-13T08:23:00.000-07:00

It's me ladies, Bacardi Mama.

I've decided that I need a blog specifically for my weight loss goals and trials.

One that my family doesn't know about and I can say anything I want and not worry who is going to be mad or appalled about it.

I have been on this journey of mine for some time now. I keep trying and trying and I have some forward progress and then I have setbacks. I'm sure everyone does. But, I am tired of this. Really, really tired of it. So, I finally did something that is quite radical for me. I'm spending money to lose weight. I joined Weight Watchers and I love it!!

I started on July 5th and so far, it is going really well. In my first weigh in last Wednesday, I had lost .8 pounds in two days. I was really encouraged by that. I made sure to keep my weigh in on Wednesday with all of you. I'm excited for tomorrow. I think it is going to be really good. I hope I'm not setting myself up for disappointment though. I'm not, right?

We were gone over the weekend for a wedding and I think I still did good. I was pleased to find out that I don't have to totally give up my friend, Mr. Bacardi. If I have him in diet coke, it's only one point. I think the only bad thing I ate over the whole weekend was the Combos we ate in the car going down to Indy. I never even wanted the wedding cake.

I was having trouble the first few days eating all my points. I felt like I was eating more than I was before. Christy (I love her) said I had to eat all my points. So, I've made a point of doing that now. Some days it is really hard, but I do it. I ordered the Point Tracker and it came while we were gone. I had a ball yesterday shopping with it. It took a long time, but I came home with nothing I couldn't eat. I realize that there is nothing I can't eat. I just try to make the best choices now.

So, here comes the real confession part of this new blog and first post. My real weight. Nobody knows this but me. I'm hoping that this is going to be freeing and not disgustingly embarrassing. I've told you all before about how I totally quit smoking and haven't had any stress smokes for seven months now. I am really proud of that. What I'm not proud of is how I let the new yummy taste of food get the best of me. When you smoke, it dulls your taste buds. Wow, does food taste great when they work like they are supposed to. Drum roll please.....on July 5th I weighed in at 205 pounds. On Wednesday July 7th, I weighed in at 204.2. That gives me the great hope that this is going to work for me. I have never weighed this much. Not even when I delivered my twins.

I am working out faithfully. I walk five mornings a week with a good firend. I've only walked once with my friend Mary, but I'm hoping we can make that a weekly thing before I have to go back to work. I started Heather's More Workouts challenge. I do something every day that is fitness releated. It might be Jillian's Shred or the Biggest Loser Wii game or the kettlebell workout. I do something.

If anyone has any Weight Watchers tips for me, please send them along. I really want to do well at this. I hate to waste money and I really need to get back in shape. Big time good shape!

That's it for now. I'll be back tomorrow with what I hope is fantastic news for my weigh in. Wish me luck!!